Brewers take aim at third straight win in middle tilt with Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

06/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers push for their third straight win tonight as they again host the Texas Rangers in the second of a three-game interleague set at Miller Field.

On Friday night the Brewers blasted four home runs against Texas starter Rich Harden, en route to a convincing 6-2 victory, the team's fifth win in six tries. But despite the triumph, Milwaukee still finds itself nine games under .500 on the season and a mere 11-17 at home in 2010.

Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee all had home runs for the home team, while starting pitcher Chris Narveson cruised through seven innings, giving up just two earned runs on six hits for his fifth win of the campaign.

"He kept the ball down, spotted his fastball and his changeup was really working," said Milwaukee manager Ken Macha about his starter's efforts on the hill. "The turnaround was the sixth when (Michael) Young led off with a double and didn't score."

Young recorded a pair of doubles in the loss for Texas, leaders in the American League West despite the setback. Vladimir Guerrero connected on his team-leading 14th home run of the season and Josh Hamilton hit safely in his eighth straight game, although his string of knocking in a run in consecutive games was halted at seven in a row.

Suffering the loss for the Rangers was starter Rich Harden, touched for four home runs for the first time in his career. Harden, who has surrendered the second-most home runs (14) in the AL this season, allowed a total of seven hits and walked three batters over six innings of action.

Making his first-ever appearance against the Brewers tonight, Texas has right- hander Scott Feldman scheduled to take the mound in Milwaukee. Feldman, who has a career mark of 27-27 at the moment, has watched his team alternate wins and losses over the course of his last seven contests. On Monday the six-year man made it through 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on nine hits, while striking out four in a 4-2 loss to Seattle at home.

Like Feldman, also making his first career appearance against the opposition tonight is Milwaukee left-hander Manny Parra. Now in his fourth year with the Brewers, Parra has started only a handful of games for his club thus far, the last of those coming on Sunday when he made it through 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win against St. Louis on the road. In that outing Parra permitted a pair of runs on two home runs and four hits, not to mention four walks, but he also fanned a season-high 10 batters.

Over the last seven games the Rangers have outscored the opposition by a combined 53-26 margin, thanks in large part to Hamilton and Guerrero. The former has plated a total of 13 and with his four home runs in 25 at-bats has a slugging percentage of 1.040 over the span. Guerrero has not only chipped in with nine RBI, he has also scored seven runs of his own for the club.

Not to be overlooked for the Rangers is Ian Kinsler who, despite being credited with only six total bases in his last 22 at-bats, has scored a team- best 10 runs in seven games.

Hart has given the Milwaukee offense a serious boost in the last six games, connecting on three home runs and forcing in six, while scoring five runs himself. McGehee and Braun have both knocked in five runs in the last six games however, during that same span Fielder has but one RBI for a team that is batting a collective .214.

Both clubs lost two of three in interleague play back in late May. The Rangers are 113-121 all-time versus the NL, while the Brewers are 86-102 in interleague play.

Gemcasino Baseball Betting News


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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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