Mets return home to face Wainwright following disastrous trip

Baseball Betting Lines

07/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a disastrous road trip, the New York Mets return home in the hopes of finding their offense. Too bad they have St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright waiting for them.

Wainwright will look to extend his scoreless innings streak this evening in the opener of a three-game series with the Mets at Citi Field.

The right-handed Wainwright has not allowed a run in his last 25 innings, including three straight scoreless outings. He has given up just one run over his last five starts, spanning 35 1/3 innings, and won four outings in a row before a no-decision versus the Phillies on Thursday.

Wainwright pitched six scoreless innings versus Philadelphia, working around six hits without a walk and six strikeouts. He is 14-5 on the season with a 1.94 earned run average and is second in the National League with wins.

The 28-year-old has lost all five of his games on the road, where he is 4-5 in 10 starts with a 2.82 ERA. After making two career relief outings versus the Mets, Wainwright started against them on April 18 and went in the distance in a victory, yielding three runs - two earned - on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

Tonight, Wainwright faces a Mets team that has been held to four runs or fewer in 15 of their last 16 games and is coming off Sunday's 1-0 setback to Los Angeles that ended New York's road trip out west with a 2-9 record.

"It's frustrating right now," said the Mets' David Wright about his team's offensive struggles. "We have good at-bats but we don't see the results. We've got good pitching but we're not scoring many runs."

R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and did not allow a run over his 5 2/3 innings of work, but exited early due to a left leg injury.

New York is just 20-33 on the road this year compared to 28-17 at home, with tonight's starter going 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA in nine starts at Citi Field.

Niese has lost his last two decisions since winning five straight and got a no-decision versus the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The 23-year-old lefty gave up three solo homers and six hits in all over five innings, striking out six.

Niese is 6-4 with a 3.54 ERA this year and will try to shake off his memory of his first and only other career start versus the Cardinals. He faced them on Aug. 5 and exited after 1 2/3 innings due to a season-ending hamstring tear.

The Cardinals will try to get to Niese early as they try for a second victory in a row after halting a three-game skid with Sunday's extra-inning win over the Cubs. Felipe Lopez hit a two-out solo homer in the 11th inning to get his team the victory, their ninth in 13 games.

"It was a 3-2 count. I was just trying to get on base," recalled Lopez. "I felt confident and [Chicago's Brian Schlitter] threw me a fastball. I put a good swing on it."

Albert Pujols also deposited a solo home run while Skip Schumaker went 4-for-4 and drove in a run.

The Cardinals won three of four at home over the Mets on April 16-18, but lost four of six in New York a season ago.

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MySportsbook.com: NFL draft - The NFC South


In part two of MySportsbook.com’s draft preview, we’ll take a look at a division that was extremely disappointing last season: the NFC South.  Many “experts” predicted the Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, of course they could not even make the playoffs in an extremely weak NFC.  The Saints definitely made up for the disappointing seasons of their NFC South brethren by exploding out of no where en route to the NFC Championship game.  For the avid NFL gambler, it is imperative to pay attention to the NFL draft.  Although free agency gets a ton of publicity, the successful franchises build their teams around the draft.

1. New Orleans Saints
Who would have thought this time last year that the Saints would be the favorites to win the NFC South for the 2007 campaign?  New Orleans is loaded with firepower on the offensive side of the ball but with the exodus of Joe Horn they will most likely look to draft a WR on Day 1.  Despite having the NFL’s 3rd ranked pass defense last season, the Saints will most likely upgrade their CB’s with one of their first two picks. Other possibilities for the Saints will be TE and DT.  Because of where they will be selecting (27th), the Saints could go the “best available player” route which could net a LB.

Key additions: Eric Johnson TE, Troy Evans LB, David Patten WR
Key loses: Joe Horn WR,
Team needs: CB, WR, TE, LB, DT
Possible draftees: Aaron Ross CB Texas, Darrelle Revis CB Pitt, Ted Ginn Jr. WR OSU, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Chris Houston CB Arkansas, Greg Olsen TE Miami

2. Carolina Panthers
Carolina was one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL last season.  With the signing of David Carr, expect the very first quarterback controversy to come out of Carolina if Jake Delhomme doesn’t rebound quickly from an average 2007 season. With veteran safety Mike Minter getting up there in age, they will look to draft a safety on Day 1 but probably not in the first round.  LB is another need with the loss of Chris Draft to go along with Dan Morgan’s concussion problems.  If TE Greg Olsen is still on the board, he might be too good to pass up despite their needs on the defensive side of the ball.

Key additions: David Carr QB
Key loses: Chris Draft LB
Team needs: LB, TE, S, OT
Possible draftees: Greg Olsen TE Miami, Patrick Willis LB Ole Miss, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Levi Brown OT PSU

3. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons were another NFC South team to have a disappointing 2007 season.  The Falcons have been plenty busy during the off season with plenty of players coming and going including a new head coach.  The Falcons were able to improve their draft position with the trade of coveted backup QB Matt Schaub.  High on the list of Day 1 needs will be a defensive end to replace Patrick Kerney and a hard hitting safety since Lawyer Milloy is nearing the end of his career.  With an additional 2nd round pick, the Falcons could attempt to trade up to acquire local product WR Calvin Johnson. 

Key additions: Joey Harrington QB, Toniu Fonoti OG, Joe Horn WR
Key loses: Justin Griffen RB, Patrick Kerney DE, Matt Lehr OG, Ashley Lelie WR, Matt Schaub QB
Team needs: DE, S, OT, WR, DT
Possible draftees: LaRon Landry S LSU, Amobi Okoye DT Louisville, Levi Brown OT PSU, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas, Alan Branch DT Michigan

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Age really caught up to the Bucs last season.  The Bucs still have plenty of household names on defense in Ronde Barber, Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks but the one thing those three have in common is unfortunately age.  It is imperative for the Bucs to get much younger, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Despite having bigger needs on the defensive side of the ball, WR Calvin Johnson is the most likely pick if he is still available when the Bucs pick at the four spot.  This would suit Bucs’ faithful just fine as Johnson is widely considered the top talent in the draft and it is a position of need for the Bucs.

Key additions: Jeff Garcia QB, Kevin Carter DE, Torrie Cox CB, Cato June LB
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It is never too early to start betting on the NFL. Log on to MySportsbook.com to checkout all of the NFL futures for the upcoming season.  On the clock: the NFC North

Odds to win the NFC South:
New Orleans Saints 8-5
Carolina Panthers 2-1
Atlanta Falcons 12-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-2    

Odds to win the NFC:
New Orleans Saints 13-2
Carolina Panthers 7-1
Atlanta Falcons 20-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-1

Odds to win the Super Bowl:
New Orleans Saints 18-1
Carolina Panthers 20-1
Atlanta Falcons 50-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 75-1

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.