NL West supremacy on line in San Diego

Baseball Betting Lines

09/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - First place in the National League West will be on the line as the top two teams in the division, San Francisco and San Diego, kick off an important four-game series tonight at Petco Park.

The Padres currently lead the division by two games over the Giants, and just swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games following a season-high 10-game losing streak. San Diego handed the Dodgers a 4-0 loss in Wednesday's series finale behind six shutout innings and seven strikeouts from Cory Luebke, who was making his second major league start.

Luis Durango had two hits, a stolen base and two RBI, while Adrian Gonzalez and Miguel Tejada each drove in a run to help the Padres improve to 3-3 on a 10-game homestand. San Diego is 41-29 at Petco Park this season.

"The baseball season is long. There are ebbs and flows. We hit a bump in the road, but our guys showed resolve and came back and have played sound baseball the last three games," said San Diego manager Bud Black.

Black hopes that Jon Garland can show some resolve when he takes the mound Thursday night. Garland has lost back-to-back starts since a personal three- game winning streak and lasted just 4 2/3 innings in Saturday's 6-2 loss versus Colorado. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- and struck out seven batters, falling to 13-10 in 28 starts this season.

Garland defeated the Giants back on April 21 with seven innings of one-run ball and is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in four career starts in this series.

San Francisco will try to get back in the win column tonight after having its four-game winning streak cut short with Wednesday's 3-1 loss at Arizona in the finale of a three-game set in the desert.

Barry Zito suffered the hard-luck loss for permitting two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts. Freddy Sanchez homered in the first inning to provide the scoring, and both Aubrey Huff and Jose Guillen ended with two hits apiece for the Giants, who can take over first place in the NL West with a solid showing against their division rivals. San Francisco is also two games behind Atlanta for the wild card lead.

"You have two teams trying to get there. They're playing well right now. They've had a good year," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "So it should be an exciting series. It's what you play for in September. Work hard in the spring, and you get to this point, this is what it's about."

The Giants are 4-2 on a 10-game road trip and will send Matt Cain to the hill tonight. Cain is 10-10 with a 3.18 earned run average in 28 starts this season and 1-0 over the past three trips to the mound. He has recorded consecutive no-decisions against the D'Backs and Dodgers, and previously toed the rubber in Saturday's 5-4 win in Los Angeles.

Cain was touched for four runs and seven hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and one walk. The righty has fanned at least six batters in three straight contests. Cain is 0-2 in three starts against San Diego in 2010 and 4-8 with a 3.12 ERA in 21 lifetime starts in this series.

San Diego has dominated the season series with the Giants by a 9-2 count, including a 4-1 ledger at Petco Park.

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Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

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Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

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