First-place teams collide as Rangers visit Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

09/03/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Texas Rangers appear to be headed to their first American League West title since 1999, the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins still have some work to do.

The two division leaders will square off tonight in the opener of a three-game series at Minnesota's Target Field.

Texas won the AL West in 1999, the last time it reached the postseason, and will resume a 10-game road trip Friday in the Twin Cities. The Rangers, who are 10 games ahead of Oakland and 10 1/2 games in front of Anaheim in the division standings, will also visit Toronto for four games on the swing.

The Rangers won for the seventh time in 11 tries with Wednesday's 4-3 triumph over Kansas City in the finale of a three-game series from Kauffman Stadium, as Mitch Moreland homered and Nelson Cruz drove in a pair of runs. Andres Blanco had two hits and an RBI and David Murphy ended with three hits for Texas, which evened its road mark at 32-32 this season.

Tommy Hunter started for Texas and improved to 12-2 by holding the Royals to two runs in 5 2/3 innings. Neftali Feliz later recorded his 34th save with a scoreless ninth.

"Tommy was in and out," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He was getting the ball up a little bit, but he stayed out there and battled. That's all you can ask from him. He didn't have his best stuff but he had good enough stuff."

Derek Holland will try for similar results when he gets the nod Friday. He is 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA in seven games (5 starts) and hasn't won since May 17 versus the LA Angels of Anaheim. Holland did not factor in the outcome of a 5-0 loss versus Oakland last Saturday, as he permitted only one run in 4 2/3 innings of work.

The left-hander suffered a loss to Minnesota on May 30 at Target Field, where he allowed three runs and three hits in an inning of work. Holland is 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA in three career starts against the Twins.

Minnesota will continue a nine-game homestand Friday and lost out on a chance for a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with Thursday's 10-9 loss in 13 innings. Delmon Young grounded into a fielder's choice to score a run in the bottom of the 11th inning, but Twins hurler Nick Blackburn gave up a solo home run to Gerald Laird in the 13th to absorb the loss.

The Twins, who went down in order in the bottom half, got just two innings out of starter Scott Baker because of elbow pain. He allowed two runs in two innings for the no-decision, while Danny Valencia and Jose Morales finished with three hits and two RBI apiece in defeat.

Minnesota was coming off a 2-1 win in 10 innings on Wednesday.

"It's disappointing, you know," said Twins relief pitcher Brian Duensing, who allowed a run over two innings and was one of seven relievers used. "We had a lot of chances to win the ballgame, just couldn't get it done."

Minnesota's lead atop the AL Central is now 3 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox. The club will also host Kansas City on the homestand.

In other team news, Michael Cuddyer has 497 RBI for his career and is three away from becoming the 10th player to collect 500 in a Twins uniform.

Blackburn was slated to pitch Friday's game, but was pushed back until Sunday after appearing in yesterday's loss. Manager Rod Gardenhire scoured the minor league system and is scheduled to go with Matt Fox from Triple-A Rochester. Fox, a right-hander, compiled a 6-9 record and a 3.95 ERA in 35 games (21 starts) for the Red Wings this season.

Fox was originally selected by the Twins in the supplemental first round of the 2004 draft.

The Twins have won four of seven meetings with Texas this season and swept a three-game series between the teams at Target Field from May 28-30.

Nudegaming Baseball Betting News

<< NL East-leading Braves send Kawakami to hill in Florida
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kenshin Kawakami returns to the Atlanta Braves this evening, as they try to hold onto their dwindling advantage in the National League East in the opener of a three-game set against the Florida Marlins at Sun Lif

<< Cubs, Mets kick off set at Wrigley Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs will try to continue their strong play under interim manager Mike Quade this afternoon when they open a three-game series against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are 6-3 since Lou Pin

<< Red-hot Yankees eye seventh straight win vs. Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees hoped to be playing their best baseball in September, and the early returns of this month seem to indicate they may have reached that goal. The defending world champions set their sights

<< Ramirez, White Sox begin series in Boston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manny Ramirez returns to one of his old stomping grounds in a new uniform when the former Boston star leads the Chicago White Sox into Fenway Park for a key three-game series with the Red Sox that begins tonight. Ramir

<< Indians, Mariners continue set between last-place clubs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shin-Soo Choo and the Cleveland Indians look to remain in the win column when they resume a four-game series against the homestanding Seattle Mariners tonight from Safeco Field. Choo stroked a three-run double during a fou

JoePa, Royster on verge of milestones >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's a milestone in itself that Penn State icon Joe Paterno is still coaching in the twilight of his years. So it comes as no surprise that the bespectacled legend is approaching 400 career wins. His tra

Roethlisberger's suspension reduced to four games >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reduced the suspension of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from six to four games. The NFL Network reported that the reduction came after Goodell me

WVU's Devine ready for senior year >>
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -Noel Devine stayed in school just for this.Rather than take a chance on the NFL draft last April, Devine is returning for one final season in which he believes ``the sky is the limit.''Liftoff starts Saturday when No. 25 West

No. 8 Nebraska goes down to wire with QB call >>
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -Nebraska fans haven't forgotten that one-point loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship game and they're still celebrating next year's move to the Big Ten.But the biggest topic of conversation in Big Red country has been about wh

It's Darron Thomas time for the No. 11 Ducks >>
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Darron Thomas seems to have it easy, making his debut as Oregon's starting quarterback at home and with the No. 11 Ducks heavily favored.But it's quite the contrary.When Thomas takes the field on Saturday against New Mexico, all e

American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

NFL Football Office Pools : NFL Football Contests

NFL Football Office Pool Printable Schedules

Welcome to our free football office pool page. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury -- Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.

Football Pickem Pools: Your basic office pool format, where you pick the winner of each game, either against the spread or straight up. Spice up your pool by using confidence ranks, key picks, and other options. Pick 5 pools available. You can print NFL Football Office Pools here. Custom ranks available. Custom point spreads. Use Pro and/or College games, even D1AA games can be included. Many many other options.

Football Survivor Pools: Also known as Knockout, Suicide, Eliminator, Survival and Loser pools. Pick one team each week. If they win you advance to the next round. If they lose, you're out. The catch: You can only pick a team once. Many options like Pick a Team Only [Once,Twice,Unlimited], [1,2,3,4,5] Strikes and You're Out, Double Picks, Bye Weeks, Alias Entries and more. Very easy to set up and manage.

Football Share Pools: Pick college and/or pro football game winners using Vegas odds in our own unique Share Pool format. Accumulate points by picking pointspread and over/under winners. Risk as many points as you want on any game. The person with the most points (shares) at the end wins. Perfect for the Playoffs and Bowl Seasons.

Fantasy Football Pools: Fantasy football pool managers love our easy to use interface and custom settings. Points and head to head leagues, custom points, offline drafts, live scoring, waiver wire, trades and more. Live customer service by email or phone. $50 flat fee.

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.