Phils try to extend NL East lead over Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

08/27/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phillies' rally last year to overtake the Mets for the National League East crown was pretty impressive. Last night's comeback to recapture first place in the division wasn't too bad either.

After rallying from a 7-0 deficit to defeat New York in extra innings on Tuesday night, Philadelphia will try to post a two-game sweep of the Mets tonight at Citizens Bank Park.

New York used home runs by Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis to help build a quick seven-run edge in yesterday's series opener, but the Phillies slowly chipped away at that advantage and forced extra innings on Eric Bruntlett's pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom of the ninth with two outs off Luis Ayala.

The clubs then battled into the 13th inning, emptying out their respective bullpens, before Shane Victorino led off the bottom of the frame with a triple and came around to score on Chris Coste's single that followed two intentional walks and a strikeout by Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis.

Coste finished 4-for-4 off the bench, while Jimmy Rollins tied a career-high with five hits -- one a home run -- to go along with three RBI and three stolen bases. Rollins entered play on Monday in a 4-for-46 (.087) slump but has gone 8-for-10 over his last two games.

Ryan Howard also homered as the Phils won their fifth straight and for the seventh time in eight games on their nine-game homestand that wraps up tonight, and took a half-game edge over the Mets for first place in the NL East. The Phillies next hit the road for 10 straight, a trek that ends with three tests versus the Mets.

The victory was also just the third in eight home games versus the Mets this year, and New York still leads the season series 9-5. Philadelphia won 12 of its 18 meetings with the Mets last year, a big reason it was able to erase a seven-game deficit in September to capture the division title.

Easley ended with four hits, while Tatis drove in four runs for a Mets team that has blown 22 saves this year. Ramon Castro left the game with a right quad strain in the fifth for the Mets, who lost the opener of their current eight-game road trip and for the third time in four games overall.

Both teams will need innings out of their starters tonight and that should favor the Mets, who send Johan Santana to the hill. Santana has gone at least seven innings in six of his previous seven starts and hasn't allowed a run in each of his last two outings spanning 16 innings.

After tossing a shutout versus Pittsburgh on August 17, the left-hander hurled seven scoreless frames versus Houston on Friday, working around eight hits while striking out five. The victory improved him to 12-7 on the season with a 2.64 earned run average.

Santana has yet to loss to Philadelphia in his career, going 1-0 with a 2.60 ERA in four starts against them. The lone win came on April 18 in Philadelphia.

Kyle Kendrick counters for the Phillies and he is 11-7 with a 4.87 ERA on the season. The righty allowed 13 runs over a total of seven innings in back-to- back losses to the Dodgers and Padres before rebounding to best Los Angeles on Friday. The right-hander held the Dodgers to just a run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings.

Kendrick, who turned 24 on Tuesday and actually warmed up in last night's extra-inning win, is 1-1 with a 2.40 ERA in three career outings versus the Mets.

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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.