Cardinals try to bounce back in battle with Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - August is Albert Pujols' month to shine, and the St. Louis Cardinals hope the consistent slugger can help get them back into first place.

Looking to snap a two-game losing streak, St. Louis welcomes the Milwaukee Brewers to town for a quick two-game set at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals swept the Reds in three games early last week to take a one-game lead for the top spot in the National League Central, but after winning Friday's opener with the Cubs, St. Louis lost the final two games of that set to fall a game back of Cincinnati in the division race.

Sunday's 9-7 loss wasn't as close as it looked, as the Cardinals trailed the Cubs by seven runs heading into the ninth. Though they plated five runs in the final frame, they were unable to complete the comeback.

Pujols and Steven Hill both hit solo homers in the setback, with Pujols extending his own major league record of consecutive seasons of at least 30 home runs to 10 campaigns.

"Three things he's the most famous for, which are 30 home runs, 100 RBI and .300 [batting average], that's the least remarkable thing about Albert," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "He's a line drive hitter who hits home runs -- 30 line drives go out of the park. The most remarkable thing about Albert is that over 162 games, he hits .300 and drives in 100 runs."

Pujols is batting .440 with six homers and 14 RBI in 12 games this month, and is a lifetime .347 hitter in August with 76 homers and 207 RBI in 258 games.

The Cardinals, who are just a half-game back in the NL Wild Card race as well, turn tonight to Jaime Garcia, who has pitched to a 6.06 earned run average over his last three games but is coming off a win over the Reds last Tuesday.

The 24-year-old southpaw allowed four runs on two hits and five walks over 5 1/3 innings of an 8-4 triumph, improving to 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA on the season. The young hurler is also 4-2 with a 1.94 ERA in 10 starts at Busch Stadium this year.

Garcia has faced the Brewers three times this year and is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

Milwaukee comes into this set having lost five of seven, including a 6-5 setback in Sunday's rubber match of a three-game series at Colorado. Milwaukee scored two runs in the ninth inning to tie it, with Corey Hart's wind-blown pop-up evading Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes to score both runs, but Trevor Hoffman allowed a two-out run-scoring single to Troy Tulowitzki in the bottom of the inning.

"All three games [of the series] ended in the last at-bat for each team that won, so I guess that all makes it interesting," said Brewers manager Ken Macha.

Rickie Weeks was a perfect 4-for-4 with a run scored at the plate for Milwaukee, while Prince Fielder had a two-run single and Ryan Braun contributed three hits to the loss.

Dave Bush draws the starting assignment for the Brewers tonight and is 0-2 over his last three starts, allowing 15 earned runs over 16 1/3 innings.

Bush matched the wrong kind of history Wednesday versus Arizona, as he became just the third pitcher to allow four straight homers, doing so over 10 pitches in the fourth inning of an 8-2 setback.

"You just try to forget about it. Try to move on," said Bush, who also tied a major league record for most homers allowed in an inning while joining former Yankee Chase Wright (2007) and Angel Paul Foytack (1963) as the hurlers to do so in four straight batters.

The 30-year-old Bush fell to 5-10 with a 4.78 ERA this year after his 5 1/3- inning stint versus Arizona.

Bush is 2-6 with a 6.40 ERA in his career versus the Cardinals. He faced them back on April 9, allowing three runs over 5 2/3 frames of a no-decision, and also opposed them in relief as well during this season.

The Cardinals have won 15 of their last 24 versus the Brewers.

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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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