D-Backs edge Mets in 14 to complete rare sweep

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Snyder's hit to the gap in left-center field scored Justin Upton with the winning run in the 14th inning, boosting Arizona to a 4-3 win over the New York Mets, as the Diamondbacks completed their first three-game sweep since last August.

Upton doubled to left field leading off the inning against Fernando Nieve (2-4). Miguel Montero was intentionally walked before Mark Reynolds struck out. Snyder, the last position player on the bench, pinch-hit for Blaine Boyer (2-2) and sent the second offering barely foul, albeit home run distance to left field. Later in the count, he drilled a ball off the wall in left for the game-winner.

Chris Young, Rusty Ryal and Reynolds homered for Arizona, which hadn't swept a series of at least three games since August 28-30 against Houston. Ryal had a career-high four hits and Upton added three hits.

Angel Pagan and Rod Barajas homered for the Mets, who fell to 1-6 on their 11-game road trip. The swing ends in Los Angeles this weekend.

The Mets have been held to four or fewer runs in 12 straight games (going 3-9 during that span), the longest such stretch since they were held to four or less runs in 13 consecutive games from September 19 - October 2, 2004.

Mets starter Jonathon Niese gave up six hits and three runs while fanning six over five innings. Dan Haren started for Arizona and had eight strikeouts over six frames.

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

It was another tough game for Mets left fielder Jason Bay as he was 0-for-6. Bay is 4-for-36 over his last 10 games and has no RBI in that span.

"I am somewhat surprised," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "I thought getting here on the west coast he would exhale and take off. I'm somewhat baffled at the struggles he's having right now."

Pagan homered to right field with one out in the opening inning, but Young went deep on a 3-2 offering leading off the bottom of the first.

Ryal sent a 1-0 Niese pitch over the wall in left-center to start the bottom of the second, but the Mets evened the game again in the third. Pagan doubled, and with one out Carlos Beltran hit an RBI single to right.

Reynolds homered to left-center with one out in the fourth, but Arizona wasted a chance with runners at second and third in the fifth when Montero fanned to end the inning.

Barajas went deep with two outs in the sixth. Left fielder Cole Gillespie nearly made a leaping catch at the wall, but ran out of real estate.

The Diamondbacks had a pair of really good opportunities in the eighth. Bobby Parnell walked Upton and Montero singled, but Reynolds lined into a double play. Ryal singled to place runners at the corners, but Tony Abreu struck out swinging.

Young reached first on David Wright's throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Young stole second, but Augie Ojeda popped out to second.

Arizona wasted a chance with two men on in the 10th and they couldn't score despite loading the bases in the 12th. Pinch-hitter Stephen Drew popped out and Adam LaRoche flied out.

Game Notes

The game lasted 4 hours, 45 minutes...Arizona pitchers fanned a season-high 16 batters...Before Wednesday, Arizona hadn't swept a set against the Mets since taking a four-game set, August 3-5, 2002 at Shea Stadium...This was the second time the Mets were swept this year, joining a four-game series May 13-16 at Florida...New York batters drew five walks. Before Wednesday, the Mets hadn't drawn more than three walks in any of their last 12 games. It was the team's longest streak of games with no more than three walks since a 13-game stretch from July 1-16, 2005...The Mets went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and are 5-for-33 in those situations since the All-Star Game...Arizona left 16 men on base and went 1-for-10 with RISP.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

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