Cardinals try to bounce back in battle with Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - August is Albert Pujols' month to shine, and the St. Louis Cardinals hope the consistent slugger can help get them back into first place.

Looking to snap a two-game losing streak, St. Louis welcomes the Milwaukee Brewers to town for a quick two-game set at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals swept the Reds in three games early last week to take a one-game lead for the top spot in the National League Central, but after winning Friday's opener with the Cubs, St. Louis lost the final two games of that set to fall a game back of Cincinnati in the division race.

Sunday's 9-7 loss wasn't as close as it looked, as the Cardinals trailed the Cubs by seven runs heading into the ninth. Though they plated five runs in the final frame, they were unable to complete the comeback.

Pujols and Steven Hill both hit solo homers in the setback, with Pujols extending his own major league record of consecutive seasons of at least 30 home runs to 10 campaigns.

"Three things he's the most famous for, which are 30 home runs, 100 RBI and .300 [batting average], that's the least remarkable thing about Albert," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "He's a line drive hitter who hits home runs -- 30 line drives go out of the park. The most remarkable thing about Albert is that over 162 games, he hits .300 and drives in 100 runs."

Pujols is batting .440 with six homers and 14 RBI in 12 games this month, and is a lifetime .347 hitter in August with 76 homers and 207 RBI in 258 games.

The Cardinals, who are just a half-game back in the NL Wild Card race as well, turn tonight to Jaime Garcia, who has pitched to a 6.06 earned run average over his last three games but is coming off a win over the Reds last Tuesday.

The 24-year-old southpaw allowed four runs on two hits and five walks over 5 1/3 innings of an 8-4 triumph, improving to 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA on the season. The young hurler is also 4-2 with a 1.94 ERA in 10 starts at Busch Stadium this year.

Garcia has faced the Brewers three times this year and is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

Milwaukee comes into this set having lost five of seven, including a 6-5 setback in Sunday's rubber match of a three-game series at Colorado. Milwaukee scored two runs in the ninth inning to tie it, with Corey Hart's wind-blown pop-up evading Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes to score both runs, but Trevor Hoffman allowed a two-out run-scoring single to Troy Tulowitzki in the bottom of the inning.

"All three games [of the series] ended in the last at-bat for each team that won, so I guess that all makes it interesting," said Brewers manager Ken Macha.

Rickie Weeks was a perfect 4-for-4 with a run scored at the plate for Milwaukee, while Prince Fielder had a two-run single and Ryan Braun contributed three hits to the loss.

Dave Bush draws the starting assignment for the Brewers tonight and is 0-2 over his last three starts, allowing 15 earned runs over 16 1/3 innings.

Bush matched the wrong kind of history Wednesday versus Arizona, as he became just the third pitcher to allow four straight homers, doing so over 10 pitches in the fourth inning of an 8-2 setback.

"You just try to forget about it. Try to move on," said Bush, who also tied a major league record for most homers allowed in an inning while joining former Yankee Chase Wright (2007) and Angel Paul Foytack (1963) as the hurlers to do so in four straight batters.

The 30-year-old Bush fell to 5-10 with a 4.78 ERA this year after his 5 1/3- inning stint versus Arizona.

Bush is 2-6 with a 6.40 ERA in his career versus the Cardinals. He faced them back on April 9, allowing three runs over 5 2/3 frames of a no-decision, and also opposed them in relief as well during this season.

The Cardinals have won 15 of their last 24 versus the Brewers.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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