Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
06/01/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will attempt to bring out the heavy lumber for a second straight day as the hard-hitting club resumes a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Pittsburgh drew even in this set between National League Central foes with a 19-hit onslaught on Saturday that resulted in a 14-4 rout. Luis Rivas belted his first career grand slam and was one of three Pirate players to homer on the night, while Xavier Nady knocked in three runs with a first-inning double that staked the Bucs to an early lead.
Ronny Paulino and Freddy Sanchez also went deep for Pittsburgh, with Paulino finishing 3-for-5 with three RBI and Sanchez collecting three hits as well. Jose Bautista went 4-for-5 with a run-scoring single to help the Pirates improve to 2-3 on a current seven-game road trip.
Pittsburgh also received a sharp effort on the mound from Paul Maholm (3-5). The left-hander held St. Louis to one run and four hits without issuing a walk over the first 6 2/3 innings.
On the other side, Cardinals rookie Mike Parisi (0-2) was bombed for eight runs and eight hits and lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his first major league start.
Troy Glaus hit a solo homer for St. Louis, which had a three-game win streak halted, while Albert Pujols ended 2-for-3 to raise his season average to .369.
A Pittsburgh offense that ranks fourth among NL teams in runs scored will take its swings today against struggling Cardinals right-hander Braden Looper. The ex-closer is 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA over his four most recent mound trips and hasn't pitched beyond six innings on any of those occasions. Over that span, the right-hander has given up 34 hits in just 21 1/3 innings of work.
Looper was lit up for eight runs (7 earned) on nine hits before being yanked after 4 1/3 innings in a home loss to Houston on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old is 2-2 with five lifetime saves against the Pirates, while posting a 3.07 ERA over 27 total games (3 starts).
Ian Snell will also attempt to put a poor performance in his last start behind him when he takes the mound for Pittsburgh. The talented hurler was a mess on the mound in Tuesday's outing at Cincinnati, as Snell issued seven walks in just five innings and allowed seven runs to suffer the loss in the Pirates' 9-6 setback.
The defeat left Snell with a 1-3 record and a subpar 6.75 earned run average in seven road starts this year.
The 26-year-old is going through one of the roughest stretches of his five- year career, having lost four straight decisions and failing to record a victory in any of his last eight starts. Snell hasn't won since April 12.
He was also hit hard in a May 15 start at Busch Stadium, where Snell surrendered five runs and 11 hits over a season-low four innings. He was spared another potential loss, however, when the Pirates rallied late for an 11-5 victory.
Snell has faced the Cardinals 10 times previously (9 starts) and owns a 3-3 record with a 4.25 ERA against St. Louis.
Pittsburgh owns a 4-3 edge in the 2008 season series with St. Louis following Saturday's triumph. The Bucs took two of three from the Cards at Busch Stadium earlier this month.
<< Resurgent Yankees try to keep rolling in Minnesota
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees will attempt to record their third
consecutive victory over the Minnesota Twins today at the Metrodome.
Bobby Abreu went 2-for-5 with two RBI and drove in the go-ahead run in the
12th inning as
<< Slumping 'Stros to send out Chacon in finale with Brewers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Journeyman right-hander Shawn Chacon aims for his third win
in three starts today, when the Houston Astros visit Miller Park for the third
and final game of a weekend series with the host Milwaukee Brewers.
Chacon, with hi
<< U.S. easily wins Curtis Cup
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States easily won the
Curtis Cup on Sunday, taking 5 1/2 of a possible eight points in the singles
matches to defeat Great Britain & Ireland, 13-7.
It was the sixth consecutiv
<< Orioles fighting to avoid home sweep by Red Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles will attempt to halt a three-game
losing skid as they play the third of four straight games against the Boston
Red Sox this afternoon at Camden Yards.
On Saturday, Manny Ramirez hit his 500th c
Wie takes sixth in Germany >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie posted a five-under 67 on
Sunday, but it was only enough to get her a sixth-place finish at the Ladies
German Open.
Wie chipped in for eagle at the first, then recorded four birdies, i
Rangers have brooms ready for visiting A's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics will attempt to halt a four-game
losing skid and avoid a three-game sweep to the Texas Rangers as the teams
close out a series this afternoon in Arlington.
On Saturday, Josh Hamilton homer
Angels to hold Big A rubber match with Blue Jays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After having a three-game winning streak halted on
Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to get back on track when they
close out a three-game weekend set against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
this af
Giants turn to ace in hopes of stopping Padres' surge >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres are on their best winning surge of
the season, but the improving squad figures to face a stern challenge in
today's finale of a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants from AT&T
Par
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting