Rays ride hot streak into Arlington
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays take their hot streak into the Lone Star State, where the defending American League champions will start up an intriguing three-game series with the Texas Rangers this evening.
With wins in 15 of their last 20 games, the Rays have climbed right back into contention in the AL East and league Wild Card races. Tampa Bay enters tonight's play trailing first-place Boston by five games in the division standings, while sitting two back of the New York Yankees for the Wild Card.
The Rays had ripped off a season-high seven straight wins before being shut down by Toronto's Ricky Romero on Wednesday, with the Blue Jays' rookie yielding just four hits over eight shutout innings to lead his team to a 5-0 victory.
Romero got more than enough support in the form of solo homers from Scott Rolen, Rod Barajas and Adam Lind, with each of the blasts coming off Rays starter James Shields (6-6). The right-hander lasted 7 1/3 innings and was reached for five runs (4 earned) on seven hits while striking out eight batters.
"I feel terrible when [Shields is] out there just battling his butt off and we can't give him enough runs to win," said second baseman Ben Zobrist, who collected two of the Rays' four hits. "We know it's going to come around."
The Rangers are embroiled in a tight race of their own at the moment, with the club currently one game behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for first place in the AL West. Texas closed the gap on its rival by winning the final two tests of a recent three-game series at Rangers Ballpark, including a wild 9-7 triumph in Wednesday's finale.
After squandering a three-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Rangers prevailed when Hank Blalock socked a game-winning two-run homer with two outs in their half of the frame.
Blalock also had a solo homer in the fourth inning and finished 3-for-5 on the night. Michael Young also collected three hits for Texas, while Chris Davis drove in a pair of runs in the win.
The walkoff blast made a winner out of Frank Francisco (2-1), despite the closer surrendering a game-tying three-run homer to Juan Rivera in the top of the ninth. Rangers starter Kevin Millwood worked the first 6 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits.
"When a guy doesn't have his stuff that night, it's up to the offense to pick him up," Blalock said. "Michael (Young) got on base for us and I was fortunate enough to drive him in."
Texas has scored nine runs or more in each of its last four wins and will take its swings tonight against the recently-activated Scott Kazmir. The Tampa hurler returned from a five-week stint on the disabled list due to a strained right quadriceps and pitched well despite not receiving a decision.
Kazmir held Florida to two runs on four hits over five innings and exhibited good control, throwing 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes.
The hard-throwing lefty had struggled badly with command prior to being put on the DL. Kazmir walked 29 batters in 45 2/3 innings over his first nine starts of the year and brought an unwanted 7.69 earned run average into Friday's appearance.
The native Texan has had little trouble when facing the Rangers in the past, however. In seven career starts against tonight's opponent, Kazmir is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA and has amassed 56 strikeouts in a combined 43 innings.
The Rangers counter with Tommy Hunter, who goes in search of his first big- league victory as he makes his sixth start in the majors.
Hunter has pitched twice for Texas this season, with the most recent coming in Sunday's 2-0 home loss to San Diego. The young right-hander had a solid performance in a losing cause, giving up just a pair of runs on seven hits and walking none in 6 1/3 innings.
The University of Alabama product, who will be celebrating his 23rd birthday today, also made an emergency start in a May 29 doubleheader against Oakland and allowed three runs in a 5 1/3-inning no-decision.
Hunter is taking the place of Matt Harrison, sent to the disabled list last week with biceps inflammation, in the Texas rotation.
Tonight's clash is the first meeting of the season between these teams. The Rays won six of nine matchups with Texas a year ago, including four of six tilts held in Arlington.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have been able to rebound from a rough beginning to the season. The team is hoping one of its most talented pitchers will be able to do the same in tonight's matchup with the Baltimore Orio
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Football Betting
NFL Football Betting OnlineThe San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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