05/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League's hottest team during the month of May invades San Francisco's AT&T Park for the opener of a four-game series, as the Houston Astros attempt to keep up their torrid stretch in tonight's matchup with the Giants.
Houston has gone 8-1 so far in May and began its current 10-game road trip in excellent fashion, taking all three meetings with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. The Astros completed the sweep with Sunday's 8-5 victory that was fueled by a six-run eruption in the eighth inning.
Trailing 3-1 heading into the game-changing frame, the Astros strung together five consecutive singles off Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton to move ahead by a run. Brad Ausmus later delivered a two-RBI single that gave Houston a 6-3 advantage.
Hunter Pence finished 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Astros and Miguel Tejada collected a pair of hits along with two runs scored.
Geoff Geary (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless inning in relief of Shawn Chacon, who held the Dodgers to two runs on seven hits over six frames. Jose Valverde only had to record one out for his eighth save.
The Giants also had a successful weekend, with the club winning its final two tests of a three-game home series with Philadelphia. In Sunday's rubber match, Steve Holm's first major league home run lifted San Francisco to a 4-3 comeback victory.
Holm followed a Randy Winn single with a two-run blast off J.C. Romero in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a 3-2 deficit for the Giants, who had lost five straight games prior to Saturday's 8-2 decision over the Phillies.
Jack Taschner (2-0) picked up the win after holding Philadelphia scoreless in the top of the seventh, while Brian Wilson preserved the lead in the ninth to notch his 11th save. The San Francisco bullpen combined to toss 4 2/3 shutout frames after starter Jonathan Sanchez was removed in the fifth.
Barry Zito takes aim at an elusive first victory of the season when he takes the mound for the Giants in tonight's opener. The disappointing left-hander fell to 0-7 this past Wednesday in Pittsburgh, although Zito did pitch reasonably well in his team's 3-1 setback.
The former American League Cy Young winner worked five innings against the Pirates and yielded just two runs on five hits. Zito was making his first start since April 27, having been briefly removed from the rotation due to his struggles.
The quirky veteran won his only career start against Houston with seven innings of one-run ball at AT&T Park on May 23 of last season.
Zito will be opposed tonight by Astros ace Roy Oswalt, who appears to have rebounded from a slow start of his own.
Oswalt lost his first three starts of 2008 and pitched to a 9.00 earned run average over those games. Since then, the hard-throwing righty has gone 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA during a stretch of five outings.
The three-time All-Star struck out a season-best nine batters against Washington on Wednesday, although he wound up with a no decision after surrendering three runs over seven innings.
Oswalt is just 2-5 with a 4.07 ERA in 10 career starts against San Francisco and has not fared well pitching at AT&T Park, where the 30-year-old has compiled a 1-5 record and a 5.30 ERA in seven mound trips.
The Giants won four of their six encounters with Houston last season and have gone 9-3 against the Astros since 2006. San Francisco has taken five of the six matchups held at AT&T Park during that two-year stretch.
<< Red Wings' Franzen out for Game 3
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen is still
experiencing concussion-like symptoms and will not be available to play in
Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Franzen
<< Uggla leads Marlins to sweep of Nationals
Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins will sure be sorry to have to leave Washington. Who can blame them? They've been there twice this season and haven't lost yet.Uggla hit two homers Sunday to help the Marlins complete another three-game sweep of the
<< Red Sox activate Cora
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Red Sox activated infielder Alex Cora
off the 15-day disabled list prior to Sunday's 9-8 loss to the Twins.
Cora, who had been out since April 9 with a sore right elbow, had three hits
and started
<< Twins hold on to beat Red Sox in homer-filled game
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Craig Monroe clubbed a pair of homers and
drove in four runs, and Minnesota held on for a 9-8 victory over the Boston
Red Sox, in the third installment of a four-game series.
Justin Morneau had three
Hernandez tries to continue hot start in finale with Red Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the opportunity to achieve a series win over the
defending world champions, the Minnesota Twins will send out their newfound
ace in tonight's finale of a four-game set with the visiting Boston Red Sox.
Livan Hernandez
Red Wings aim for 3-0 lead as West finals head to Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Detroit Red Wings will try to take a
commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals tonight,
when they visit the Dallas Stars for Game 3 at American Airlines Center.
Detroit has grabbed a
Red-hot Marlins take streak into Cincinnati >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Florida Marlins will try to extend their
season-high winning streak to eight games tonight, when they open a four-game
series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
The NL East-leadin
Cubs try to keep momentum going as Padres pay visit >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs enter a four-game set with a chip on their
shoulders, as they are coming off an impressive sweep of the Arizona
Diamondbacks. Tonight, the club will welcome the San Diego Padres to town for
the ser
Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
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