Oswalt a deflection, not redemption, for Amaro

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Roy Oswalt puts on his Phillies uniform for the first time, he might have to check to make sure it is his name on the back of the jersey rather than what everyone in Philadelphia will be calling him for the rest of 2010.

Will "Not Cliff Lee" even fit on a jersey?

Oswalt has to be excited to go from a last-place club to one that is within arm's-reach of first place in the National League East, a Phillies team coming off back-to-back World Series appearances and figures to be the favorite to get to a third in a row now that they have added Oswalt from the Astros.

What the three-time All-Star won't be a fan of is the position he is in; that of replacing former fan favorite Lee, even if it is seven months after Lee left town. Oswalt can thank Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. for that awkwardness.

Amaro's decision to trade Lee, who was dominant for the Phillies after being acquired from the Indians before last year's non-waiver trade deadline, to Seattle in December was an unpopular one, even if it did get the club its current ace, Roy Halladay, from Toronto in the same four-team deal.

Amaro said that with Halladay, there could be no Lee. Philadelphia had given up too many prospects -- four to Cleveland in the original deal and another three to Toronto for Halladay -- and that shipping off Lee to the Mariners for Phillippe Aumont, Juan Ramirez and Tyson Gillies was designed to keep the team competitive for years to come by restocking the minor league system. He took this stance even knowing that a 2010 rotation of Halladay, Lee and Cole Hamels would have been perhaps the best in baseball.

Little has gone right for Amaro since.

Outside of Halladay and Hamels, the Phillies' rotation has been a mess, hindered by underperformance and injury. Joe Blanton has an earned run average just under six and Kyle Kendrick has tortured the Phils with inconsistency. J.A. Happ missed three months due to injury and veteran Jamie Moyer's 2010 season is over due to an elbow injury.

So you can imagine the uproar when word started to leak out that the Phillies were looking to add starting pitching help, a move that would certainly cost them some of their so-called minor league depth.

Even after Philadelphia acquired Oswalt, a 32-year-old righty with 143 wins and playoff experience, everyone continued to ask the same question: why didn't they just keep Lee?

"We can rehash this if you like," Amaro said on Thursday. "We had negotiations with Cliff. We were not comfortable he would be on our club past 2010. We designed a trade that would not only replenish our farm system, but would give us an opportunity to keep a No. 1 pitcher [Halladay] in our system beyond 2010.

He later added, "[With] this particular trade [for Oswalt], we have the ability under our terms to keep this No. 1 starter in our system not just for 2010, but in 2011 under our terms, and perhaps beyond that."

In Oswalt, Amaro sees redemption for not keeping Lee. In reality, all he has done is put an innocent outsider looking to win a title into the cross hairs of every Phillies fan who wanted to keep Lee.

If Oswalt losses a game 2-1, Lee would have won it 1-0. If Oswalt serves up a home run to center field, it would have been a pop up had Lee been on the mound.

Amaro, and by extension Oswalt, will be deemed failures if the Phillies don't capture their second title in three years. Imagine if Philadelphia battles the very capable Texas Rangers, Lee's new team, in the World Series and loses.

Lee's trade to the Rangers also made Amaro look bad, given the return the Mariners got for the future free agent. While Amaro netted a trio of prospects who have gotten lost in the system this year, the Mariners received Justin Smoak as part of the four-player package. Smoak, the 11th overall pick of the 2008 draft, was rated as Texas' second-best prospect by Baseball America and is already playing in the majors.

In Amaro's defense, the players he sent to the Astros for Oswalt -- Happ and minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar -- aren't going to make Phillies fans weep, especially considering Philadelphia reportedly got $11 million from Houston in the deal to offset some of the cost for Oswalt.

Still, the loss of Happ, a 27-year-old hurler with 12 wins and a 2.98 ERA in 31 career starts, seems to contradict Amaro's idea of young depth for the long haul. Had Amaro kept Lee, he would still have Happ, Hamels and Halladay and could have netted some compensation picks for losing Lee this offseason as a free agent.

What's done is done, however, and Amaro has still gotten himself a player that greatly increases Philadelphia's chances at getting back to the Fall Classic. Amaro just shouldn't expect that the move, in and of itself, constitutes total atonement.

Wallstretsports Baseball Betting News

<< White Sox pick up Jackson from Arizona
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox have acquired pitcher Edwin Jackson from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for pitchers Dan Hudson and David Holmberg. Jackson was in his first year with Arizona after being

<< Packers ink first-round pick Bulaga
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers have signed first-round draft pick Bryan Bulaga. The Green Bay Press Gazette is reporting that the offensive lineman has signed a five-year deal worth $14.75 million, with $8.76 million

<< Dolphins sign ex-Saints DE Grant
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins have signed defensive end Charles Grant. Terms of the deal were not released, but the Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday that the contract is for two years and is worth $4.5 milli

<< Youzhny ousted in Gstaad quarters
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was a quarterfinal upset victim Friday at the Swiss Open Gstaad. Qualifier Yuri Schukin upended his world No. 14 fellow Russian Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 12

<< Revs searching for league success against Union
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England has won four straight games without allowing a goal, but just one of those matches was in Major League Soccer. The Revolution hope to build on their SuperLiga success in league play Saturday at PPL Par

Playoff or pay-off? MEAC decision a 'win-win' >>
Norfolk, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a difficult decision ahead for Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference football, and there may not be a right or wrong answer considering both of the given options have merit. "A win-win situation," according

Celtic signs McCourt to new three-year contract >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northern Ireland winger Paddy McCourt signed a new three-year contract with Celtic on Friday. McCourt, 26, had one year left on his current deal. He joined Celtic in 2008, and has three goals in 19 a

Iupati joins Davis, Mays and Bowman as Niners picks to sign >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers completed the signings of their 2010 draft class on Friday, as guard Mike Iupati followed offensive tackle Anthony Davis, safety Taylor Mays and linebacker Navorro Bowman,

Cardinals sign LB Washington >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals have signed linebacker Daryl Washington to a four-year contract, the team announced Friday. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Washington was Arizona's second-round pick, 47

Jets sign Ryan, Tannenbaum to extensions >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets announced Friday they have signed head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum to contract extensions that will keep them with the club through the 2014 season. Tann

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

Sportsbook accepts U.S. credit cards

Sportsbooks That Take US Credit Cards for NFL football betting

Sportsbooks that take credit cards are not always easy to come by....Everything from credit card companies denying gambling transactions to the fear of chargebacks by customers has slowed down sportsbook credit card transactions by a high percentage.

There are however still sportsbooks that take credit cards.

When using your credit card it is highly recommended that you try either: MySportsbook.com or Sportsbooks.com. Both sportsbooks have a high rate of accepting credit cards and will save you the time and hassle of looking around the web to make a credit card transaction.

Furthermore, Sportsbooks.com is one of the oldest sportsbooks on the web and Sportsbook offers security in that they are the biggest online sportsbook in the world! Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, they are ROCK SOLID!