Cardinals turn to Garcia versus Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals hope that rookie starter Jaime Garcia can duplicate what Chris Carpenter did last night when he takes the ball Friday in the second portion of a four-game series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium.

Carpenter allowed just one run and four hits in eight innings of Thursday's 7-1 beating of the Dodgers and Mitchell Boggs completed the four-hitter with two strikeouts in the ninth inning.

"I was able to make good pitches. I thought the command of my fastball was better," Carpenter said. "Scoring seven runs was nice."

Garcia would enjoy a seven-run outburst of his own when he makes his 18th start of the season Friday. He has won five of his last seven decisions and is coming off a no-decision on July 7 in an 8-7 loss at the Rockies. Garcia was reached for four runs -- two earned -- and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings to remain at 8-4 this season, while slightly raising his ERA to 2.17.

The young left-hander threw a scoreless inning of relief to beat the Dodgers on August 5 last season and will make his first start against them tonight.

Albert Pujols had three hits Thursday and scored once, while Allen Craig knocked in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won three of four games and are just a half-game behind idle Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central. The Reds were off Thursday and will host Colorado this weekend.

St. Louis got two hits and an RBI from both Yadier Molina and Aaron Miles and will also host Philadelphia for four games on the homestand.

Los Angeles entered the All-Star break with six wins in nine tries, but came out a bit sluggish in Thursday's series opener in the Gateway City.

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw fell to 9-5 this season after he allowed five runs -- four earned -- and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings to absorb the loss. He didn't get much offensive support besides the help provided by Andre Ethier, who ended 2-for-4 with the lone RBI and a run scored.

"They just kept the pressure on all night," Kershaw said. "The leadoff guy was on every inning. It wasn't a snowball effect, but when you get leadoff guys on and you're getting some hits, it's a tough way to pitch."

LA, which was outhit by a 12-4 difference, will rest its hopes on Chad Billingsley for tonight's second installment of this series. Since winning four straight starts in late May, Billingsley is just 1-2 with a 4.89 earned run average in his last six appearances. He won his most recent outing on July 9 against the Chicago Cubs, as he gave up four runs in seven innings of a 9-7 win. Billingsley improved to 7-4 this season in 16 starts.

The right-hander has been solid on the road this season, going 4-1 in eight starts, and is 1-2 with a 4.40 ERA in six career games (5 starts) against the Cardinals.

The Dodgers swept a three-game set at home versus the Cardinals from June 7-9 after losing five of seven to the club last season.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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