Cardinals, Percival agree to minor league deal

Baseball Betting Lines

06/08/2007 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals announced Friday they have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Troy Percival on a minor league contract.

Percival spent the majority of his career with the Angels before signing with Detroit in 2005. He suffered an injury to his right forearm with the Tigers in July of 2005 and then retired after an aborted comeback with the squad at the start of the 2006 season. He has been out of the game ever since.

The 37-year-old was working as a special pitching instructor for the Angels until asking for a release from his coaching contract on May 23.

Percival, who will report to Triple-A Memphis, will join a Cardinals' bullpen that currently touts a 10-2 record and 3.41 ERA. He also joins former Angels teammates Adam Kennedy, Jim Edmonds, David Eckstein, Scott Spiezio and Russ Springer in St. Louis.

With 324 saves, Percival is 12th on the all-time Major League saves list and ranks fifth among active major leaguers. He holds a 30-41 record with a 3.10 earned run average in 586.2 career innings. He enjoyed his best season in 2002 with a 4-1 mark, 40 saves, 68 strikeouts and a 1.92 ERA.

A four-time All-Star, Percival went nine straight seasons with 20 or more saves from 1996-2004. He was also a member of the Angels' World Championship team in 2002, when he collected seven saves and held a 2.79 ERA in the postseason.

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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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