Brewers, Bucs resume series between slumping clubs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-hander Dave Bush can beat his hometown team for the second time this season when the Milwaukee Brewers host the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight in the middle game of a three-game series at Miller Park.

The Brewers won Friday's opener in dramatic fashion, scoring a run in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the contest before claiming a 5-4 decision in 10 frames. Ryan Braun lined an opposite-field single over Ryan Church's head in right field to score Rickie Weeks with the game-winning run for Milwaukee.

Braun, who earlier in the game snapped out of an 0-for-19 slump, came up with runners on first and second and two outs in the 10th after Evan Meek (4-3) intentionally walked Prince Fielder. He then struck the game-winning hit to end Milwaukee's five-game slide, with Weeks scoring without a play at the plate.

Fielder added a solo homer and Corey Hart had a two-run blast in the win, which was credited to John Axford (4-1) after he struck out Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Doumit to strand a runner on third in the top of the 10th.

Doug Davis, in his first start since May 10, surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks over five innings for Milwaukee. His counterpart, Paul Maholm, held the Brewers to two runs on three hits and a pair of walks in a seven-inning no-decision.

Andrew McCutchen went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI for the Pirates, losers of four straight overall. Lastings Milledge added two hits, including a solo homer.

Bush, a 30-year-old veteran of 178 major-league appearances, beat the Pirates on April 20 in Pittsburgh by allowing just three hits in seven scoreless innings. The win raised his career mark against Pittsburgh - where he was born in November of 1979 - to 4-4 in 13 appearances and lowered his earned run average against the Pirates to 4.40 in 73 2/3 innings.

More recently, Bush has gone two starts since his last win, an 8-3 downing of Seattle on June 25. He's since lost to Houston and gotten a no-decision against San Francisco while giving up just three runs in 10 hits in 12 innings.

Bush is 1-4 with a 4.47 over nine starts in Milwaukee this season.

For the Pirates, California-born right-hander Jeff Karstens makes his eighth career appearance against the Brewers while still seeking his first win.

An ex-New York Yankees farmhand, Karstens tossed 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball against Milwaukee in his initial appearance of 2010 and added two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief in a subsequent matchup on May 20. He got no- decisions in both games and is 0-1 with a 3.45 ERA in 28 2/3 overall innings against the Brewers.

His last victory came June 19 in an interleague matchup with Cleveland. Since then, Karstens is 0-1 with a pair of no-decisions while giving up 23 hits and 11 runs in 17 1/3 innings. He's 0-3 in nine road games this season.

Milwaukee has won six of its nine matchups with the Pirates this season and is 29-9 against the Bucs since the start of the 2008 campaign.

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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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