Howard, Phillies seek to heat up versus Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - September is the time of year for temperatures to drop, but for Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard it's his month to start heating up.

Howard and the Phillies will shoot for back-to-back winning series Wednesday afternoon in the finale of a three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.

Howard ended a lengthy home run drought in last night's 8-4 win over Los Angeles with a three-run blast in the third inning, his first home run since July 27. Howard had just one RBI and 16 K's since then before crushing an offering from Dodgers reliever Ramon Troncoso.

"I felt like I've had some good at-bats and good swings over the last five, six games," Howard said. "I've just been hitting balls right at people. I was able to just get one, connect and get it over everybody I guess."

He guessed right, and now it's time to see if the All-Star first baseman can keep up his fall numbers. In 162 regular-season games in September and October in his career, Howard has batted .314 with 52 home runs and 141 RBI. The late production has been key to Philadelphia's consecutive trips to the World Series.

Brian Schneider gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead with a three-run homer in the second inning last night and Carlos Ruiz drove in a pair of runs to keep them 1 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco in the wild card standings. Kyle Kendrick got the start and picked up his ninth win (9-7) even though he gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings for the Phils, who entered this series fresh off a three-game sweep at San Diego.

The Phillies, currently three games behind Atlanta for the NL East lead, hope to see a better pitching display from veteran All-Star Roy Oswalt when he takes the LA mound today. Oswalt is 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA in six starts since coming over from Houston and is unbeaten in his last five starts (3-0) -- all Philadelphia wins. He threw eight innings of one-run ball and struck out six in last Friday's 3-2 win at San Diego.

Oswalt beat the Dodgers back on August 11, hurling seven shutout innings and striking out five in a 2-0 triumph. The righty is 7-3 with a 3.11 ERA in 11 career matchups (10 starts) against Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have dropped three of four games and are 6 1/2 games behind the Phillies for the NL Wild Card lead. Carlos Monasterios tried to replicate what starter Hiroki Kuroda was able to do in a series-opening win, but was yanked after two innings for giving up five runs and five hits.

"Monasterios is still learning," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "We crept back into it, but we just couldn't keep the pressure on them when they scored those last two runs."

James Loney hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBI in defeat.

Hoping to get Los Angeles back on track Wednesday afternoon will be Clayton Kershaw, who has lost three of his last four decisions. He did factor in the outcome of last Friday's 6-2 win at Colorado and limited the Rockies to a run on five hits and two walks in six innings.

Kershaw is 11-8 with a 3.01 earned run average in 27 starts this season and squared off with the Phillies on August 12 at Citizens Bank Park. The lefty allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings for the no-decision and is 0-3 in five career starts in this series.

The Phillies took two of three meetings with Los Angeles in that series last month and, of course, have beaten the Dodgers in each of the past two National League Championship Series.

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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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