Carpenter hopes to pitch slumping Cards past Astros
Baseball Betting Lines
08/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even with stud right-hander Chris Carpenter on the mound tonight, the St. Louis Cardinals will not be guaranteed a win over the Houston Astros in the second portion of a three-game series between NL Central inhabitants at Minute Maid Park.
St. Louis has lost three straight and 11 of its last 15 contests to fall six games behind Cincinnati for the division lead, but did remain three games in back of Philadelphia for the Wild Card in the Senior Circuit. In Monday's series-opening 3-0 loss at Houston, Jake Westbrook was dealt the hard-luck defeat for yielding all three runs and nine hits in seven innings.
"The first inning was tough for me," said Westbrook. "It was some tough luck out there and the seventh inning was all me, it was all my fault out there."
Westbrook gave up two runs in the seventh frame to put his team in an even bigger hole, while Randy Winn and Yadier Molina had the Cardinals' only two hits on the night. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, two of St. Louis' top sluggers, both finished 0-for-3 in the loss.
Carpenter will shoot for his 15th win of the season tonight and has won five of his last six decisions, but did not factor in the outcome of last Thursday's 11-10 loss at Washington. He allowed six runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits over six innings to remain at 14-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 28 starts.
The righty and 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner is 4-1 in 12 road starts and will face Houston for the third time this season. He owns a 1-1 mark with a 3.52 ERA over the first two matchups and is 7-4 in 16 lifetime starts against the Astros.
Houston starter J.A. Happ has been solid since coming over from Philadelphia as part of the Roy Oswalt deal and delivered a two-hit shutout last night. Happ struck out four batters and allowed one walk to improve to 5-2 this season. It was the third shutout of his career and first this season.
"It's been a while since I felt that comfortable throwing first strikes," said Happ. "I was feeding off that confidence. [The Cardinals] were putting the ball in play and we were making the plays out there tonight."
Brett Wallace went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Hunter Pence had two hits and a run scored for the Astros, who have won seven of their last nine games, including a four-game sweep in Philadelphia before the weekend.
Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez has been impressive over the past two months and is slated to take the mound Tuesday. Rodriguez is 7-2 with a 1.79 earned run average in his last 12 starts and recently defeated the Phillies last Thursday with seven innings of one-run ball in a 5-1 victory.
The lefty will now face St. Louis for the fourth time this season and is 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA over the initial three starts. In 18 career matchups (17 starts) with the Cardinals, Rodriguez is only 4-11 with a 4.30 ERA.
Rodriguez is 6-5 in 13 starts at Minute Maid Park this season.
Houston has won eight of 13 meetings with the Cardinals this season.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies are up to their old tricks again. Known for late-season surges, the Rockies appear to be headed in that direction and will try to stay hot Tuesday in the second installment of a three-game series again
<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - August 31st
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
Halftime - Group C: Russia 34, Ivory Coast 30 (Ankara)
Halftime - Group D; New Zealand 51, Lebanon 32 (Izmir)
Group C: Puerto Rico vs. China, 11:30 a.m. (Ankara)
Group D: France vs. Canada, 11:30 a.m. (Izmir)
Gro
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<< Nine carries in preseason plenty for Jackson
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Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs have released wide receiver Lance Long. Long appeared in seven games, starting one, for the Chiefs last season. He caught 20 passes for 178 yards.
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Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have waived
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teams.
Frazier re-signed with Pittsburgh in March, but reported to camp with a knee
injury. He wa
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East Rutherford, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have placed
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Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stuttgart acquired Italian midfielder
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Alabama's Ingram to miss opener with knee injury >>
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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