Astros, Cubs wrap set at Wrigley Field

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have to be thinking about returning home for an extended period of time. But first they have to take care of business in the Windy City, as the Astros shoot for a series win over the Chicago Cubs tonight in the finale of a three-game set from Wrigley Field.

The Astros will begin a 10-game homestand following Wednesday's tilt with the NL Central-rival Cubs and are coming off last night's 7-3 win in which outfielder Michael Bourn contributed three hits, including a triple, three RBI and two runs scored. Brett Wallace homered for Houston, which rebounded from Monday's series-opening loss to win for the sixth time in eight tries.

Nelson Figueroa turned in five solid innings on the hill, allowing six hits and three runs while fanning five and walking three for the win. The righty threw 111 pitches, 76 for strikes.

"Figgy worked through those five innings, but had to use a lot of pitches to do it," Astros manager Brad Mills said.

Before the 'Stros close out a six-game trek through Arizona and Chicago, Brett Myers will toe the Wrigley rubber this evening with hopes of continuing his career dominance of the Cubs. Myers is 2-0 in three starts against them this season and 9-3 with a 2.38 earned run average in 16 lifetime matchups (12 starts) with Chicago.

The right-hander has won his last two decisions, but did not factor in the outcome of Friday's 4-3 loss at the Diamondbacks. Myers allowed three runs, seven hits and walked three batters over six innings to remain at 10-7 this season with a 3.02 ERA in 28 starts. He is only 4-7 in 16 road starts in his first season with the Astros.

Chicago entered Tuesday's second portion of this series having won four of five games. However, starter Carlos Silva wasn't so sharp in his first action since August 1 because of a heart condition and was touched for six runs and nine hits in five innings of work.

"It's late, but you hope he'll go through more activity and his arm strength will be better," Cubs manager Mike Quade said of Silva.

Tyler Colvin finished with two hits and a pair of RBI, while Marlon Byrd drove in the other run for the Cubs, who will hit the road for nine games against Milwaukee, St. Louis and Florida after hosting the Astros.

Randy Wells will try to send Chicago on the road in positive fashion when takes the mound Wednesday. Wells is 6-12 with a 4.56 earned run average in 28 starts this season and is coming off a no-decision versus the New York Mets last Friday. In the 7-6 victory at home, Wells allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Wells, a righty, is just 1-5 in his past six decisions and looks to build on his 3-7 home mark in 16 starts. He has lost both matchups with the Astros this season and owns a 2-2 record in five career starts against them.

Houston has got the better of the Cubs for much of this season, having taken nine of 14 meetings between the clubs in 2010.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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