Nats try to extend win streak against Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Usually sellers around the non-waiver trade deadline, the Nationals didn't seem to impressed on Friday with the Phillies' big midseason pickup.

One day after spoiling the Philadelphia debut of Roy Oswalt, Washington will go for a third straight win this evening in the second contest of a three-game series at Nationals Park.

Hoping to make up a small deficit for first place in the National League East, the Phillies acquired Oswalt from the Astros on Thursday and gave their new right-hander the start in last night's opener.

Oswalt, though, struggled in his debut, allowing five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over six innings of an 8-1 Washington victory.

"I came out early a little amped up, holding the ball a little tight," Oswalt said. "I didn't really start feeling better until the last two innings."

The Nationals snapped the Phillies' season-high eight-game win streak and dropped the club 3 1/2 games behind the Braves for first place in the division.

Craig Stammen earned the victory after allowing just one run -- a solo homer by Jayson Werth in the seventh inning -- and five hits over 6 1/3 frames. Josh Willingham and Roger Bernadina both had a two-run double, while Adam Kennedy collected four hits and scored twice as the Nats won for the third time in four games.

"It was a really good performance by Craig and everybody else who took the ball," said Washington manager Jim Riggleman.

While Washington is looking to win three in a row for the first time since June 8-10, the club could make more noise off the field today than on. The Nats traded their closer Matt Capps on Thursday and then dealt infielder Cristian Guzman to the Rangers before last night's game.

Guzman was hitting .282 this year with a pair of homers and 25 RBI and his exit paved the way for Kennedy to start last night. Washington could also end up dealing Adam Dunn and his 24 homers before today's deadline.

Regardless, Washington has a game to play tonight and it will be sending out a former first-round selection to the hill.

Ross Detwiler, the sixth overall pick of the 2007 draft, will make his second start of the season after returning from hip surgery. The 24-year-old didn't have a memorable season debut as he gave up five runs -- all unearned -- on three hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings of a setback to the Brewers on Sunday.

"We did not have a good day defensively," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said after the game. "We certainly didn't get it done today, but Detwiler has to pitch around [errors]. I thought he did a good job and minimized the damage."

Detwiler, 24, went 1-6 with a 5.00 earned run average in 15 games last season and has lost both of his previous career starts versus the Phillies, pitching to a 6.00 ERA in that span.

The Phillies will hope Joe Blanton continues to turn things around this evening. He is 4-6 with a 5.85 ERA this year and is coming off a victory over the Rockies on Monday in which he threw six innings of two-run, six-hit ball. It marked the first time in 16 starts this year that he allowed fewer than three runs in an outing.

Blanton, who has also pitched at least six innings in seven of his last eight starts, is 1-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight road outings this year. The 29-year- old righty is also 2-3 with a 6.51 ERA lifetime versus the Nationals.

The Phillies have won four of seven over Washington this year, taking two of three at Nationals Park from April 5-8. Philadelphia is 22-6 over its last 28 meetings versus Washington and won seven of nine in D.C. last year.

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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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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

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