Padres seek to snap season-long skid in clash with D-Backs

Baseball Betting Lines

08/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres are mired in a season-high losing streak and look to get back on track tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series between division foes at Chase Field.

The National League West-leading Padres have lost four in a row and were swept in three games by Philadelphia over the weekend. The losing streak continued with Sunday's error-plagued 5-0 loss in which starter Clayton Richard was dealt the loss for allowing four runs -- two earned -- over 7 2/3 innings.

Richard was outdueled by Cole Hamels, who scattered four hits and struck out six over eight shutout innings.

"We're going to learn from the mistakes we made. We're more than excited to start our next series," Richard said.

Adrian Gonzalez ended with a game-high three hits, as San Diego's lead atop the division fell to five games ahead of San Francisco. The Giants beat Arizona yesterday afternoon.

Wade LeBlanc will try to pitch the Friars out of their funk when he takes the desert mound Monday night. LeBlanc has won three of his last four starts and beat Arizona the previous time out on Wednesday. He was reached for three runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 9-3 victory, improving to 1-0 in four career starts against the D'Backs and 8-11 overall in 24 outings this season.

LeBlanc, a lefty, owns a 4-6 mark in 11 road starts.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks had won three in a row and were aiming for a three-game sweep of San Francisco until losing a 9-7 decision on Sunday.

Stephen Drew had four hits, including a home run, three RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Justin Upton went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in for Arizona, which got a pair of RBI from Adam LaRoche. Drew has four homers and nine RBI over his last five games.

"I told these guys that they shouldn't hang their heads about this one," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. "They played hard and we had a good series. I'm very happy with the way they played."

Rodrigo Lopez started for the D'Backs and did not record a decision, yielding five runs and eight hits in four innings. Esmerling Vasquez suffered the loss and was reached for three runs -- two earned -- in the seventh inning.

Joe Saunders will handle pitching duties for the D'Backs tonight, but has lost four straight trips to the hill. His misery continued in last Wednesday's 9-3 loss at San Diego, as Saunders permitted nine runs, six of which were earned, and eight hits over four innings. He is 1-4 with a 5.21 ERA in six starts with Arizona since coming over via a trade with the Angels.

Saunders, a left-hander, is 1-2 in three career starts against the Padres.

San Diego has owned Arizona this season to the tune of a 10-5 record, but has lost four of the six matchups at Chase Field.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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