Cards try to best Mets once again

Baseball Betting Lines

04/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro tries to stay perfect on the season when he toes the rubber for the St. Louis Cardinals tonight in the middle test of a three-game series versus the New York Mets at Busch Stadium.

Pineiro opened the season on April 10 versus Houston and earned the win with 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He then took the hill again on April 15 at Arizona, recording the win despite surrendering five runs and nine hits over five innings of work. He received more than enough run support in that one, as the Cardinals posted a 12-7 triumph.

The right-hander is unbeaten against the Mets, as evidenced by a 1-0 mark and 4.76 ERA in three career starts.

St. Louis opened a six-game homestand with Tuesday's 6-4 victory over the Mets, as Rick Ankiel posted three hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to lead the way. Yadier Molina also had three hits while Albert Pujols knocked in a pair of runs for St. Louis, which had lost two of three to the Cubs in a rain-shortened series over the weekend.

Jason Motte recorded the final two outs in the eighth to pick up the win and Ryan Franklin set down New York in order in the ninth for his third save of the season. Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer did not factor in the decision and allowed four runs on 10 hits in five innings.

The Cardinals will host the Central rival Cubs for three games after this series with the Mets.

New York has lost two in a row for the third time this season and experienced another rough outing with Oliver Perez on the hill. Perez was reached for four runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings, but it was new set-up man J.J. Putz who suffered the loss for the Mets. Putz gave up two costly runs and three hits in the eighth.

Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran each ended with two hits and an RBI for the Mets, while Daniel Murphy also drove in a run.

Toeing the rubber for the Mets tonight will be John Maine, who is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in two trips to the mound this season. Maine is coming off a rough outing Thursday against San Diego, as he yielded six runs and seven hits over five innings of a 6-5 loss.

The right-hander, who did not record a decision in a 5-4 loss to Florida in his season debut on April 10, is 1-1 with a 5.63 earned run average in three career starts against St. Louis.

New York won four of seven meetings with St. Louis a year ago.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The 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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