Pirates target sweep in Houston
Baseball Betting Lines
04/04/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will attempt to gain some early control in the NL Central when they go for a series sweep of the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
For the second straight game, Pittsburgh beat up on Houston's bullpen.
In the series opener, Xavier Nady and Jason Bay both hit late homers in a come-from-behind win. On Tuesday Nady drove in the go-ahead run in a 3-2 victory over the Astros.
Nady's go-ahead single came right after Ronny Paulino knocked in Jack Wilson to tie the game. Nady also homered in the contest.
Ian Snell started on the mound and gave up only two runs on four hits with a walk and 11 strikeouts in six innings of work. Jonah Bayliss (1-0) got the win for getting one out in the seventh.
Salomon Torres picked up his second save of the season for Pittsburgh, which has now won its last two against Houston after dropping six straight in the series.
Jason Lane hit a solo home run and Carlos Lee added an RBI for the Astros. Lee went 0-for-4 in his Houston debut on Monday, and finished this game 1-for-4.
Jason Jennings, who made his first appearance with Houston since being acquired in a trade with Colorado in the offseason, pitched six innings of one-run, five-hit ball with a walk and seven strikeouts. Dan Wheeler (0-1) got the loss for giving up two runs in one inning of work.
Hoping for the sweep, the Pirates will send lefty Tom Gorzelanny to the mound. Gorzelanny, the club's Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season, made 11 starts for the Bucos after being recalled from Triple-A on June 30, and went 2-5 with a solid 3.79 ERA.
Gorzelanny has lost all three of his career starts against the Astros with a 5.19 ERA. Two of those defeats came last season.
Houston counters with 40-year-old righty Woody Williams. Williams spent the last two seasons with San Diego before joining the Astros, and went 12-5 last season with a 3.65 ERA in 25 games, all but one of those starts.
He did not face the Pirates last season, but is 7-2 in 13 career starts against Pittsburgh with a 3.52 ERA.
Houston is off tomorrow and will host St. Louis over the weekend. Pittsburgh also enjoys an off day Thursday before hitting the road against Cincinnati.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rams were extremely active in free agency, signing
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks will try for their fourth consecutive
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Bears front seven was pushed around a fair amount in
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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo 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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