A-Rod among Silver Slugger winners

Baseball Betting Lines

11/09/2007 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third baseman Alex Rodriguez picked up his ninth Silver Slugger Award on Friday to highlight the honors given to the top offensive performers at their respective positions.

Rodriguez, who opted out of his contract with the New York Yankees after the season to declare for free agency, is also a likely MVP choice for this past season, when he blasted 54 homers, drove in 156 runs and batted .314.

Only Barry Bonds (12) and Mike Piazza (10) have more Silver Sluggers than Rodriguez, who is tied for third all-time with Manny Ramirez and Barry Larkin.

Six players who were selected as Gold Glove winners earlier in the week also took home a Silver Slugger honor. They are Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, Detroit second baseman Placido Polanco, Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin and a pair of New York Mets - outfielder Carlos Beltran and third baseman David Wright.

Other Silver Slugger winners in the American League were outfielders Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels and Magglio Ordonez of the Tigers, shortstop Derek Jeter of the Yankees, Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena, Boston designated hitter David Ortiz and Yankee catcher Jorge Posada. Jeter picked up his second consecutive Silver Slugger, while Posada notched his fifth. Pena became the first Ray to win a Silver Slugger, while Ortiz got one for a fourth straight year. This was the third Silver Slugger for Ordonez and seventh for Guerrero.

Ortiz and Guerrero are the only players to be selected to the Silver Slugger team in each of the last four seasons. Ortiz's four awards match Edgar Martinez for the most ever by a designated hitter.

Other National League winners were outfielders Matt Holliday of the Rockies, Carlos Lee of the Astros, first baseman Prince Fielder of the Brewers, second baseman Chase Utley of the Phillies and Arizona pitcher Micah Owings.

In the NL, no player has more than two Silver Slugger Awards to their name.

Selections for the Louisville Silver Slugger Award were based on a combination of offensive statistics including batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches' and managers' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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