Giants send Lincecum to hill against Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting swept out of first place in the National League West, one would think a trip to San Francisco would be good for Arizona. That is, of course, unless you have to face Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum will try to help the Giants halt a five-game home losing streak to the Diamondbacks tonight in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Arizona was bested in three straight by Los Angeles over the weekend to fall 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers for the top spot in the standings with 20 games left to play.

A trip to the bay could help restore Arizona's confidence, as it is 7-4 versus the Giants this year and 5-1 at AT&T Park, having not lost there since April 14 in the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

Still, Arizona is facing Lincecum, who is 2-0 with a 2.25 earned run average in four career starts versus the Diamondbacks.

The exciting young right-hander won three straight starts before getting a no- decision versus the Rockies on Tuesday. Lincecum had a rare bad outing, allowing five runs on five hits over five innings with six strikeouts.

He has still won his last four decisions, hasn't lost since July 20 versus Milwaukee and is 15-3 with a 2.60 ERA on the season.

Lincecum leads the majors with 216 strikeouts, but his 190 1/3 innings pitched are 44 more than he threw as a rookie last year.

He will face a Diamondbacks offense that managed just five runs in their sweep at the hands of Los Angeles. More than half of those came in Sunday's 5-3 loss.

Chris Snyder homered and drove in two runs, while Adam Dunn also homered for Arizona, which has lost 11 of its last 15 games.

Arizona will start Yusmeiro Petit, who had a two-start win streak snapped on Tuesday versus the Cardinals. The right-hander allowed five runs on four hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings, allowing three homers in the game.

Petit, 23, is 3-4 with a 3.44 ERA in 16 games, seven of those starts, and has yet to face the Giants this year. However, he is 0-1 with an 8.18 ERA in three outings (1 start) lifetime against them.

The Giants, meanwhile, showed some big-inning ability in Sunday's 11-6 win on Sunday over the Pirates. Pablo Sandoval went 2-for-3 and drove in five runs, including a three-run double in San Francisco's 10-run fourth inning.

Sandoval's five RBI were the most in a game by a Giants rookie since Damon Minor knocked in five in 2003.

Randy Winn went 2-for-5, knocked in a run and scored for the Giants, who have won three of four.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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