Cardinals have chance to close gap on struggling Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers will play the first of three games against the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals this evening at Miller Park.

Milwaukee is just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and 5 1/2 in front of the Cardinals in the NL Central standings. The club has struggled a bit as of late, having lost five of seven contests.

In Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park, Geoff Jenkins belted a pair of home runs and J.J. Hardy added a solo shot for the Brewers, who did win the first two games of the set.

Starting pitcher Claudio Vargas gave up two runs on five hits in six innings of work, while Carlos Villanueva suffered the loss in relief after allowing three runs in the eighth.

The Brewers will send struggling starter Chris Capuano to the mound on Tuesday. The lefty hasn't won since pitching eight shutout innings on May 7 against the Washington Nationals.

Capuano, who is 0-9 with a 6.33 ERA in his last 14 starts, absorbed the loss in his previous start on August 7 against the Colorado Rockies. He was reached for four runs in five innings of an 11-4 setback at Coors Field.

Capuano owns a 4-4 record with a 5.20 earned run average in 11 career outings against St. Louis. He is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals this season.

St. Louis has won two in a row and four of its last five games, including Sunday's 12-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the rubber match of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Ryan Ludwick hit a three-run homer and finished with four runs batted in to lead the defending World Series champions. Brendan Ryan, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis prior to the game, went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBI for the Cardinals, who are also seven games off the top spot in the NL Wild Card race.

St. Louis starter Anthony Reyes pitched six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits for the win. He also struck out five and walked just one while knocking in a run at the plate.

Taking the ball for the Cardinals this evening will be Kip Wells, who is 5-13 with a 5.26 ERA in 25 games (21 starts) this season. Wells is 1-0 over his past three trips to the hill and the Cardinals are 2-1 over that span.

In his past start on Wednesday against San Diego, Wells permitted just one unearned run in seven innings of a 2-1 triumph at Busch Stadium. He is shooting for back-to-back wins for the first time since late last season.

Wells, a right-hander, is 6-8 with a 4.49 ERA in 20 career starts against Milwaukee. However, he is 0-2 with a 7.50 earned run average in three appearances against the Brewers this season.

Milwaukee is 5-4 against the Cardinals this season, including a 3-0 mark at Miller Park. St. Louis, though, has won the last three meetings.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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