Longoria, Rays edge O's to take series

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2010 - Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria homered, doubled and drove in the game-winning run with a walk, as the Tampa Bay Rays held on for 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the rubber match of a three-game set at Camden Yards.

Willy Aybar and Reid Brignac each chipped in with two hits and an RBI for Tampa Bay, which has won five of its last eight.

James Shields (8-9) allowed four runs on eight hits with one walk and struck out a batter in 6 1/3 innings to earn the victory. Rafael Soriano locked the game down with a perfect ninth inning to register his 24th save of the season.

Ty Wigginton hit a two-run homer and doubled for the Orioles, who have dropped five of six.

Brad Bergesen (3-8) was touched for nine hits and five runs over 5 1/3 frames. The right-hander struck out seven and walked three. He has now taken a loss in four straight outings and dropped six consecutive decisions since a May 12 victory over Seattle.

With Tampa Bay clinging to a 5-4 lead in the eighth, Joaquin Benoit was summoned from the Rays' bullpen and allowed Wigginton to reach with a one-out double. Pinch-runner Scott Moore replaced Wigginton and was thrown out at third on a ground ball off the bat of Adam Jones. Felix Pie struck out to end the threat.

Soriano came in for the bottom of the ninth and retired the side in order to secure the victory.

Longoria's two-out solo homer to left in the first inning gave the Rays the early lead.

Tampa Bay then tacked on two more in the second. With runners on first and third and one out, Brignac laced a single to center that brought in Matt Joyce, who started the inning with a double. After Kelly Shoppach flied out to deep left, Ben Zobrist chased in another with a double for a 3-0 game.

Longoria got the third inning started with a double and scored three batters later as Aybar roped an RBI two-bagger to right.

Baltimore scored three in the fourth to draw to within one. Luke Scott reached with a one-out single and Wigginton followed with a two-run shot to left- center. Jones then singled and scored on Jake Fox's double to make it 4-3.

The O's came back to even the game in the fifth on Scott's RBI groundout, but the Rays went back in front in the sixth. Bergesen loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks with one out and was lifted in favor of Jason Berken, who retired Jason Bartlett on a force out at home. Berken, though, walked Longoria to force in the go-ahead run. Mark Hendrickson replaced Berken and needed only one pitch to set down Carlos Pena.

Shields worked a scoreless sixth and gave up a one-out single to Tejada in the seventh, which ended his outing. Randy Choate came on and preserved the slim lead by getting Nick Markakis to ground into a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, the Orioles reinstated reliever Mike Gonzalez from the 60- day disabled list and transferred pitcher Jim Johnson (right elbow inflammation) from the 15-day to the 60-day DL. In addition, Baltimore recalled pitcher Troy Patton from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned infielder Josh Bell to Norfolk...Rays outfielder Carl Crawford (groin) missed the game and is day-to-day.

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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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