Padilla leads Rangers in series opener vs. Seattle

Baseball Betting Lines

05/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vicente Padilla tries to win his fourth straight start this evening when Texas begins a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners at Rangers Ballpark.

Padilla improved to 5-2 on the season against Seattle on Wednesday, as he scattered two hits over seven innings to lower his earned run average to 3.02 on the season.

Over his last three starts, Padilla has allowed just one earned run in 21 2/3 frames.

Padilla is 3-5 lifetime against the Mariners with a 4.94 ERA in 11 games (nine starts). He has allowed just one earned run in 13 innings to Seattle in two starts this season.

Texas will be trying to get back in the win column this evening after having its five-game winning streak halted on Sunday with a 12-6 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Ian Kinsler went 3-for-5 and scored twice with a run batted in, while Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in two runs for the Rangers, who fell for only the third time in their last 12 contests.

Sidney Ponson lasted 5 1/3 innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits and five walks. Franklyn German (1-1), though, was tagged with the loss and gave up two runs and three hits in just two-thirds of an inning.

Seattle, meanwhile, snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday, as Raul Ibanez launched a monstrous go-ahead two-run homer to help the Mariners to a 6-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Safeco Field.

Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-4 and scored twice, and Yuniesky Betancourt had a pair of hits and two RBI.

Mariners starter Miguel Batista (3-4) held on for the win despite lasting only 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits and three walks. He struck out six, as the Mariners won for just the second time in their last 12 games.

Heading to the hill tonight for Seattle will be left-hander Erik Bedard, who has lost his last two starts, despite surrendering just three earned runs in 14 innings of those outings. Bedard was dealt a tough-luck loss on Wednesday against Padilla and the Rangers, as he yielded two runs and six hits in seven innings to fall to 2-2 on the year, while raising his ERA to 1.99.

Seattle has crossed the plate just once in Bedard's last two starts.

Bedard has faced the Rangers eight times in his career and is 4-2 with a 2.44 ERA.

Texas has won four of its seven meetings with the Mariners this year, but lost six of nine at home to them last season.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.