Giants resume playoff quest in Arizona

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants are still fighting for the top spot in the National League West Division. An upcoming four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks could help with that quest.

The Giants, who are four games behind the NL West-leading San Diego Padres, will kick off a four-game set tonight in Phoenix and will try to rebound from last night's 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Barry Zito suffered the hard-luck loss in the finale of a three-game set at Chavez Ravine and was reached for both runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings.

"I didn't have it the first three innings," Zito said. "Giving up the homer to [Casey] Blake was frustrating. I settled down after that."

Freddy Sanchez had two of San Francisco's five hits and Buster Posey extended his career-high hitting streak to 15 games after going 1-for-4.

The Giants have still won 11 of their last 14 games, but need to work on their 11-21 ledger against division opponents.

Streaky Giants starter Matt Cain will handle pitching duties for the 20th time this season tonight and is just 7-8 with a 3.30 earned run average in 19 starts. After winning four straight starts over a month ago, Cain fell into a slump and went 0-4 with a 7.45 ERA in five starts from June 19-July 9.

Cain, however, bounced back in Saturday's 8-4 triumph over the visiting New York Mets by tossing seven innings of one-run ball and allowing four hits.

The right-hander is only 2-5 in 10 road starts this season, but shut out Arizona the last time he faced them on May 28. He went the distance in that game, which took place in San Francisco, and yielded one hit with nine strikeouts in improving to 5-4 with a 3.49 ERA in 15 career starts versus the D-Backs.

Cain owns two shutouts and three complete games this season.

Arizona enters this series with some added confidence after sweeping the visiting Mets in three games at Chase Field. It entered the series having lost four in a row, but bounced back in a huge way with a 13-2 win in the opener of the set. The D'Backs then won by a 3-2 score on Tuesday and are coming off last night's 4-3 victory in 14 innings.

Pinch-hitter Chris Snyder singled home Justin Upton for the game-winning run in the 14th frame, while Rusty Ryal ended 4-for-5 with a home run. Chris Young and Mark Reynolds also went deep for Arizona, which got three hits and a run scored from Upton.

Dan Haren started for Arizona and gave up three runs and six hits with eight strikeouts in six innings for the no-decision. The D'Backs had lost each of Haren's last six starts. Blaine Boyer got the win with two scoreless innings of relief.

"He threw well, but unfortunately we got into a deadlock there," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said of Haren. "He went as far as I would let him go."

The Diamondbacks, who are last in the NL West, will hand the ball to Rodrigo Lopez tonight, and he is 3-2 with a 4.40 ERA in his last five starts. He lost his most recent mound appearance in an 8-5 decision at San Diego on Saturday, as he permitted six runs and six hits over six innings.

Lopez, who has given up a total of 11 runs over his last three starts, fell to 5-8 with a 4.62 ERA in 19 total trips to the mound this season. He is 3-4 in 10 home starts and will face San Francisco for the second time in 2010. Lopez was reached for six runs and 10 hits in five innings of an 8-7 loss to the Giants back on May 20 and is 0-1 in three career starts versus San Francisco.

San Francisco leads the 2010 season series with Arizona by a slim 3-2 margin, but is 16-7 over the past 23 meetings between the two ballclubs.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.