Mackowiak, Nats tops Astros

Baseball Betting Lines

05/08/2008 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rob Mackowiak went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, and John Lannan tossed six strong innings, as Washington staved off a sweep with an 8-3 win over Houston.

Lannan (3-3) gave up just one run on seven hits and one walk, with three strikeouts for the Nationals, who had lost the first two games of this three- game set.

Ryan Zimmerman collected three hits, and Cristian Guzman scored three times and had a pair of hits for the Nationals, who won five of seven games against the Astros last season.

Brandon Backe (2-4) took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits in six innings, though he had three walks to nine strikeouts. Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee each had a pair of hits for the Astros, who had 10 overall but just one for extra bases - a double from Ty Wigginton.

The Nationals took a commanding lead in the later innings. In the sixth, Guzman and Zimmerman led off with consecutive singles, and Nick Johnson walked to load the bases.

Austin Kearns delivered with a liner to center that plated two runs for a 4-1 edge. However, the Nationals' rally petered out from there, as Ronnie Belliard and Mackowiak flied out, and Wil Nieves grounded out to end the threat.

Still, two frames later, Washington's offense put up three more runs.

Kearns walked on a wild pitch from Oscar Villarreal, which also allowed Zimmerman -- who singled, and advanced to third on an error and ground out -- to sprint home.

Two batters later, Mackowiak homered to left to stake the Nationals to a 7-1 lead.

The Astros got two runs back in the home half of the eighth -- An RBI single from Lee scored Tejada, and a groundout from Wigginton with runners at the corners allowed Berkman to go home.

Guzman scored Washington's final run in the ninth, on the same sequence that Johnson grounded into a double play. Jon Rauch pitched a perfect ninth to close out the contest.

Johnson's double in the first inning plated Guzman to gave Washington, which took a 2-0 lead in the third frame on Willie Harris' solo homer.

Houston got a run back in the fourth on Hunter Pence's RBI single.

Game Notes

The Astros had an eight-game home winning streak snapped...Harris and Mackowiak each hit their first homer of the season...Washington announced Thursday that on Friday the club is expected to place a pair of catchers, Paul Lo Duca (hand) and Johnny Estrada (elbow), on the 15-day disabled list on Friday. The club is also expected to recall catcher Jesus Flores from Triple-A Columbus, and reinstate outfielder Elijah Dukes from the 15-day DL.

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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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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.