Heyward powers Braves past Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

08/30/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Heyward finished 4-for-5 with a three-run home run, four RBI and three runs scored as Atlanta dominated New York, 9-3, in the opener of a four-game series.

Martin Prado added three RBI on two hits while Omar Infante scored three times for the Braves, who have won three straight. Jair Jurrjens (6-4) went 5 2/3 innings and was charged with three runs on six hits with six walks and eight strikeouts for the win.

Atlanta holds a 2 1/2 games lead over Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. The Phillies are currently playing the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Josh Thole, Luis Hernandez and Angel Pagan each drove in a run for the Mets, who have dropped four of their last six. Pat Misch (0-4) was clobbered for five runs on eight hits in just three innings of work.

The Braves struck in the first inning. Singles from Infante and Heyward to start the inning was followed by an RBI groundout from Prado. Derrek Lee then singled home Heyward for a 2-0 lead.

The Mets, though, answered in the second. Jeff Francoeur singled to start things off and Thole followed with a walk. Hernandez singled to center to bring home Francoeur, Pat Misch followed with a sacrifice bunt and Pagan's groundout scored Thole to tie the game.

Atlanta went back on top in the bottom of the second as, with two outs, Jurrjens and Infante both singled and Heyward followed with a blast to right for a 5-2 lead.

In the sixth, Francoeur led off with a single and scored when Thole followed with a triple. After Hernandez walked, Carlos Beltran grounded back to the pitcher and Thole was tagged out in a rundown. After Pagan struck out, Luis Castillo walked to load the bases and Eric O'Flaherty came on the mound.

Flaherty kept the Mets from causing any more trouble as he got Chris Carter to groundout to end the frame.

Atlanta, though, got the run back and more in the bottom of the sixth as Heyward's RBI single was followed by a two-run single from Prado, with Heyward scoring from first on a beautiful slide to avoid the tag, for an 8-3 lead.

Brian McCann's monster shot into the seats in right field in the seventh gave Atlanta a 9-3 lead.

Kyle Farnsworth worked around a one-out double by Beltran in the eighth while Billy Wagner tossed the ninth to complete the win.

Game Notes

Each team has won six times in the season series...Jurrjens improved to 6-0 over eight starts at home this season and improved to 7-2 lifetime against the Mets...Misch fell to 0-3 in seven games against Atlanta...Heyward matched a career-high in hits and RBI.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

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Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

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Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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