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Angels pay a visit to Twins' Target FieldBaseball Betting Lines08/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Minnesota Twins made the playoffs last season, but only one of those teams seems to be headed for a return trip. The Angels will attempt to boost their sagging postseason hopes when they make their first-ever appearance at the brand-new Target Field for tonight's opener of a critical three-game series with the red-hot Twins. Anaheim has captured three straight American League West titles, but the club faces an uphill climb in its quest for a fourth. With 40 games remaining in the regular season, the Angels trail Texas by seven games for first place in the division. The Angels were able to gain some ground on the Rangers on Thursday, however. Mike Scioscia's squad came through with a 7-2 victory over Boston last night, while Texas suffered its fourth straight loss after yesterday's setback at Baltimore. Hideki Matsui snapped a 1-1 tie in Thursday's matchup with the Red Sox by belting a three-run homer in the sixth inning, while Ervin Santana (13-8) made the lead stand for Anaheim by holding Boston to two runs and four hits over the first seven frames. Matsui finished with four RBI on the night and Alberto Callaspo knocked in two runs for the Angels, who had lost the first two games of the Boston series and three in a row overall. Los Angeles will now face a surging Minnesota team that's amassed a major league best 24-9 record since the All-Star break and has opened up a four-game lead in the AL Central after just taking two of three tests from the second- place Chicago White Sox. The Twins have also been tough to beat at their new home park as of late, having posted wins in nine of their last 10 games at Target Field. That streak did come to an end with last night's 11-0 setback to the White Sox, however, which also halted a six-game overall winning streak for Minnesota. "I think we caught [the White Sox] at a time when they just hit everything," Twins catcher Drew Butera said after Thursday's loss. "They hit mistakes and they hit good pitches too." Chicago handed Carl Pavano (15-8) one of his worst outings of the season in last night's finale, pounding the Minnesota ace for seven runs and a whopping 15 hits in his six innings of work. Pavano had gone 10-1 with a 2.63 earned run average over his previous 13 starts. The Twins, who were outhit by a 21-5 margin for the game, will turn to another pitcher who's been on a roll in hopes of bouncing back tonight. Brian Duensing has been sensational since joining the team's rotation a month ago, with the second-year lefty having produced a 3-0 record and a 2.43 ERA during that stretch. Duensing was especially good in his last start, yielding just three hits and two walks against Oakland this past Saturday to notch his first career shutout. That effort followed up a 7 1/3-inning stint at Cleveland on August 8 in which he allowed four runs (three earned) to pick up another win. The former University of Nebraska standout's best work has usually come at home this year. In 22 overall appearances that included last Saturday's gem, Duensing is 3-1 with a minuscule 1.42 ERA at Target Field. This will be Duensing's first-ever start against the Angels, but he's surrendered two runs in 5 1/3 innings over four career encounters with the Halos in relief. Dan Haren gets the call for Anaheim tonight, with the midseason acquisition in search of his first win on the road since a complete-game performance at Houston on May 6 while still a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Haren hasn't made much of an impact since coming to the Angels in a July 25 trade with Arizona, as Los Angeles has lost in four of his first five starts following the swap. The three-time All-Star isn't entirely to blame for his 1-3 record, however, as he's given up two runs or less in three of those five games. The hard-throwing righty's only win as a Angel came on August 10, when Haren held Kansas City to one run and five hits over seven sharp innings. He wasn't quite as effective in Sunday's home start against Toronto, which reached him for four runs in seven frames en route to a 4-1 triumph. Haren is 2-4 with a mediocre 4.93 ERA in 11 road starts between the Diamondbacks and Angels this season, and owns a 2-2 record with a 2.57 ERA over six career meetings with Minnesota. He hasn't faced the Twins since 2007, though. The Angels have won seven of their last 11 clashes with the Twins and swept a three-game series in their final visit to the Metrodome last year. Minnesota did take three of four from Anaheim in a season-opening series in Southern California this past April, however.
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Football BettingNFL Football Betting OnlineThe 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 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 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) ** The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond! Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds . |
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