Marlins send ace versus visiting Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In what has been a great year so far for pitchers, Florida Marlins ace Josh Johnson certainly has done his part. Johnson will take the mound tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second portion of a three-game series from Sun Life Stadium.

Johnson is 10-4 this season with a 1.96 earned run average over 22 starts, but is 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA in his past three trips to the mound. He last took the hill in Sunday's 5-4 loss at San Diego and yielded a season-high five runs on seven hits and four walks through 5 2/3 frames.

The All-Star right-hander, who is 7-2 in 13 home starts, will face St. Louis for the fourth time in his career. Johnson is 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA over the first three appearances, all of which have been starts.

Florida has dropped five straight and could use just about anything right now to end its woes. In Friday's 7-0 loss to the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright tossed a two-hitter to outduel Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco, who was raked for seven runs and 10 hits in five innings for the loss.

Hanley Ramirez and Brett Hayes had the only hits for the Marlins, who were outhit by a 13-2 margin and sit nine games off the lead in the NL East.

"We're flat, there's no way around it, we're just flat right now," said Florida second baseman Dan Uggla. "We gotta dig deep inside of us and find that competitiveness we had on the road trip."

Wainwright, meanwhile, improved to 16-6 with a superb effort and recorded seven K's with three walks in his fifth complete game of the year.

"I'm taking it one pitch at a time. I drill myself on my bullpen sessions and each game I pitch to make sure I focus on the pitch I'm throwing at the time," said Wainwright about his approach when he takes the hill. "I have experience in the past where I get ahead of myself and it always backfires. I just worry about what I can control at that very instant."

Albert Pujols finished 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI, while Jon Jay posted three hits, three runs scored and knocked in a run for the Cardinals, who have won two in a row and five of their last seven games. St. Louis is just a half-game behind Cincinnati for NL Central supremacy.

The Cardinals will hand the ball to newcomer Jake Westbrook, who joined the club via trade with Cleveland last week. Westbrook made his St. Louis debut in a 9-4 loss versus Houston on Monday, as he recorded a no-decision for giving up two runs and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts.

Westbrook went 6-7 in 21 starts with the Tribe before re-locating to St. Louis, and will face Florida for the second time in his career. The righty beat the Marlins on June 9, 2004 with eight innings of one-run ball to help the Indians to an 8-1 victory.

The Marlins and Cardinals split a two-game series back in May, but St. Louis has won five of the past eight meetings between the two clubs.

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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.

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