Blue Jays homer five times, take series vs. Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/08/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gonzalez drove in three runs and Brett Cecil pitched seven strong innings, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Cecil (8-5) allowed one run on four hits for the Blue Jays, who have won two straight following a three-game skid. Adam Lind, Fred Lewis, Lyle Overbay, Jose Bautista and Jose Molina each hit a solo home run in the victory.

Scott Baker started on the mound and suffered the loss for the Twins, who have dropped five of their last seven games overall. Baker (7-8) yielded five runs on seven hits over six innings of work. Michael Cuddyer homered for the lone Minnesota run.

The Twins will now travel to Detroit for a key AL Central divisional weekend series against the Tigers prior to the upcoming All-Star break, while the Blue Jays will close their unofficial first half of the season with a home set against Boston.

After Lewis led off the bottom of the first with his fifth home run of the season, the Blue Jays scored four runs in the home portion of the second inning for a five-run advantage.

Lind began the second with a leadoff homer and Aaron Hill followed with a single. Edwin Encarnacion's one-out base hit preceded another single by Molina which loaded the bases. With two outs, Gonzalez drilled a double to center field and cleared the bases for a 5-0 margin.

The only run for the visitors was scored in the top of the fourth when Cuddyer reached down and belted a low fastball over the wall in left-center field.

In the seventh, solo home runs by Overbay and Molina gave the Twins a 7-1 advantage and the scoring was capped by Bautista's solo blast in the eighth.

Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless eighth before David Purcey took the mound to close it out in the top of the ninth.

Game Notes

Twins All-Star first baseman Justin Morneau, along with outfielder Delmon Young, are listed as day-to-day due to injuries suffered on Wednesday. Both missed this contest. Morneau has a mild concussion and Young has a left wrist sprain...Toronto has now captured 17 of the last 22 meetings between these clubs...Baker fell to 1-6 in nine road starts this season and is also 0-4 lifetime against the Jays after this setback...The game was completed in a swift 2 hours, 15 minutes...J.J. Hardy posted two hits in the loss.

Wwwgoldenpalacecasino Baseball Betting News

<< LeBron James makes his pick: He's going to Miami
LeBron James has made his decision. He's going to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.James made his long-awaited announcement in a hastily arranged ESPN special Thursday night in Greenwich, Conn., and James wasted no time in making

<< Ainge: Forget LeBron, Celtics team to beat in East
Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge wasn't worried about The Decision.He's got his team back.``We're the Eastern Conference champions,'' Ainge said Thursday. ``And we think we're going to be better next year.''Ainge confirmed that the Celtics

<< Chappell shoots 61 for Nationwide lead
Clarksburg, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Chappell fired an 11-under 61 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. Chappell's 61 matched the course record at Raven Golf Club and earned him a two-shot lead over

<< Durant officially inks extension with Thunder
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Kevin Durant has officially signed a multi-year contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The deal is reportedly for five years. "Today is an exciting and important day in

<< Lang leads Women's Open at tough Oakmont
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittany Lang bogeyed her final hole Thursday to post a two-under 69 and take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the U.S. Women's Open Championship. Lang is not only searching for her first major cham

LeBron joins Wade, Bosh in South Beach >>
Greenwich, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James made the rumors a reality on Thursday, mirroring fellow free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh by declaring his intentions to join the Miami Heat. After seemingly endless speculation as to w

Latos' arm, bat carries Padres over Nats >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos spun seven scoreless innings and hit his first career home run to send San Diego to a 7-1 win over Washington in the last of a three-game set. Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley and Jerry Hairston

Crawford leads Rays over Tribe >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Crawford hit a pair of two-run home runs as Tampa Bay kept its hot streak going with a 5-2 decision over Cleveland in the opener of a four-game set from Tropicana Field. Carlos Pena also went deep f

Giants' Runzler leaves game with injury >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco Giants reliever Dan Runzler left Thursday's game in Milwaukee with a dislocated left kneecap. The 25-year-old left-hander will undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the severity of the i

Report: David Lee headed to Warriors in sign-and-trade >>
Bristol, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have reportedly acquired forward David Lee in a sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks. The Warriors, according to a report on ESPN.com on Thursday, will send forwards

Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards