Cardinals, Padres continue set between division leaders

Baseball Betting Lines

05/26/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie left-hander Jaime Garcia goes after his fifth win of the season when the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres resume their three-game set this evening at Petco Park.

Garcia has been a pleasant surprise for the Cardinals, going 4-2 with the second best earned run average in the National League at 1.28. He has also surrendered two runs or less in all eight of his starts this season, while his .203 batting average against is sixth-lowest among NL starters.

The 23-year-old Garcia pitched well against the Florida Marlins last Wednesday, but walked four batters and did not get a decision despite tossing five scoreless innings.

Garcia has made one other start against the Padres but did not get a decision, as he surrendered three runs and five hits in five innings back in July of 2008.

San Diego will counter with righty Kevin Correia, who has lost his last three starts. He fell to 4-4 Thursday in Los Angeles, as the Dodgers reached him for four runs and seven hits in six innings to raise his ERA to 4.57.

Correia is 1-2 lifetime against the Cardinals with a 4.28 ERA in nine games (three starts).

The two best pitching staffs in the National League lived up to their billing in the opener of this set on Tuesday, as Jon Garland outpitched Adam Wainwright in San Diego's 1-0 victory.

Garland (6-2) worked around six hits and two walks while striking out seven over seven frames in the victory. Jerry Hairston Jr. went 2-for-3 and accounted for the lone run with his first homer of the season for the Padres, who have won three straight.

Heath Bell worked through a scoreless ninth for his 13th save.

Wainwright (6-3) was dominant in defeat, scattering four hits with one walk and striking out 12 over seven frames. Albert Pujols notched three hits and Felipe Lopez collected two for the Cardinals, who have lost two of three overall.

"I made a lot of good pitches [Tuesday], but their guy made more pitches," Wainwright said. "Garland put up zeroes and that's the only way to guarantee yourself you're not going to lose."

St. Louis was 6-1 versus the Padres last season and has won 14 of the last 17 matchups in the series.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.