A-Rod tries once again for 600th home run in Cleveland

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Alex Rodriguez still on the verge of reaching one of baseball's most exclusive milestones, the New York Yankees will wrap up a four-game series with the Cleveland Indians tonight at Progressive Field.

Rodriguez remains one home run shy of becoming only the seventh player in major league history to hit 600 for his career. The superstar third baseman has now gone six games and 26 at-bats since belting No. 599 in a 10-4 win over Kansas City on July 22.

The three-time MVP still made a significant contribution to the Yankees' 8-0 rout of the Indians last night, going 2-for-5 and knocking in his team's first run with a first-inning single.

Robinson Cano did deliver a solo home run for New York, while Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner each went 2-for-4 with two RBI to help back a strong effort from starting pitcher A.J. Burnett.

Burnett (9-8) scattered seven hits and struck out seven Cleveland batters over the first 6 1/3 innings to win his second straight start and lead the Yankees to their sixth victory in their past eight contests. New York owns the best record in the majors at 64-36, two games better than fellow American League East member Tampa Bay.

"He was locating his fastball to the corners as well as I've ever seen it," Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner said of Burnett. "Then late in the count he was throwing the curveball and getting some strikeouts. He was good [Wednesday]."

Fausto Carmona (10-8) was far less effective for Cleveland, as the 2010 All- Star was hammered for seven runs and 10 hits before being lifted after only 2 2/3 innings.

"I think the key for us was swinging at strikes," said Rodriguez. "After the first two innings [Carmona] had 40-plus pitches. That's always a key for us is to make him throw as many pitches as we can. Even when we make outs, make productive outs."

Rodriguez will be taking his swings tonight off Mitch Talbot in the Cleveland rookie's second-ever encounter with the Yankees. The young right-hander was dealt a loss in an 11-2 road setback to New York on May 31 after allowing three runs over 6 1/3 innings, with Rodriguez coming through with an RBI single in two official at-bats against the Indians starter.

Talbot enters tonight's clash mired in a lengthy slump, as he's dropped five of six decisions since a surprising 7-4 beginning to the season and has posted a mediocre 5.01 ERA over his last seven starts. He served up two homers and was tagged for five runs in 5 2/3 innings of a home loss to Tampa Bay last Saturday, despite registering a career-best eight strikeouts.

The 26-year-old has recorded a respectable 4.08 ERA in his first season with the Indians, however. Talbot was acquired by Cleveland from the Rays in a trade this past winter.

New York will give Dustin Moseley his first start of the year tonight as the team searches for a temporary fill-in for the injured Andy Pettitte. The right-hander has made four relief appearances for the Yankees since being called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre earlier this month, including a excellent 4 2/3-inning stint against Kansas City on Saturday in which he yielded no runs and only a single hit.

Moseley took over in that game for Sergio Mitre, who was rocked for seven runs (five earned) and seven hits over the first 4 1/3 frames and sent to the bullpen as a result of that shaky showing.

The 28-year-old Moseley does have major-league starting experience, having begun 23 games during a four-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2006-09. He also has good lifetime numbers against Cleveland, sporting a 3-0 record with a 4.35 ERA in three starts and two relief outings versus the Tribe.

New York took three of four games from the Indians in a late-May series at Yankee Stadium and has prevailed in nine of the last 12 clashes between the teams. In their only visit to Cleveland last season, the Yankees won three of four tests from the Tribe.

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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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