Athletics continue road trip against Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics are still searching for a win on their current road trip, as they begin a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs this evening from historic Wrigley Field.

Oakland was swept in three games at San Francisco to kick off the nine-game excursion and fell to 4-9 this month following Sunday's 6-2 loss against the Giants at AT&T Park. Jack Cust had a team-high three hits and both Kevin Kouzmanoff and Landon Powell knocked in a run for the A's, who received a rough outing from starter Vin Mazzaro.

Mazzaro allowed four runs -- three earned -- and six hits through six innings to suffer his first loss of the 2010 campaign (2-1).

"We had too many things go wrong in a three-game series to overcome," said Oakland manager Bob Geren.

Kouzmanoff is riding a 14-game hitting streak in which he owns three homers and 11 RBI. Oakland will also visit St. Louis on the trek and is four games off the lead in the American League West standings.

Trevor Cahill hopes to get the A's back into the win column when he makes his 10th start of the season tonight. Cahill is 4-0 with a 1.91 earned run average over his last five starts and defeated the LA Angels of Anaheim the previous time out on Thursday, as he tossed eight innings of one-run ball.

Cahill, a right-hander, pushed his record to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.91 after it was 4.37 following a loss to the Angels back on May 16. He has never faced the Cubs in his career.

The Cubs will continue a nine-game homestand Tuesday and ended a three-game slide by salvaging the finale of a three-game set versus the crosstown-rival White Sox with a 1-0 win on Sunday behind a stellar performance by Ted Lilly.

Lilly did not allow a hit through eight innings and permitted a leadoff single to Juan Pierre in the ninth inning. Lilly struck out three batters in just his second win of the season and Carlos Marmol posted his 13th save despite walking a pair of hitters in a scoreless ninth inning.

"We're in a situation there where they're going to have a chance to tie it up," Lilly said. "How many times in those situations have we seen where Marmol walks a guy or falls behind in the count and then finds a way?"

Chad Tracy drove in the lone run of the game in the seventh inning for Chicago, which is 7 1/2 games off the lead in the NL Central.

Carlos Zambrano will try to build off his latest winning start when he takes the mound tonight. A recent demotion to the bullpen may have worked for Zambrano, who recently took the hill in a 9-4 win at Milwaukee last Wednesday and yielded three runs in five innings.

Zambrano is 2-4 with a 6.05 earned run average in 19 games -- six starts -- this season and will face Oakland for the second time in his career. The fiery right-hander beat the A's back on June 20, 2004 and held them to a run and five hits with eight K's in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-3 victory.

Chicago won two of three meetings with Oakland from June 18-20 of the 2004 campaign and is 93-100 against the American League. The Athletics own a solid 131-105 ledger in games played against the Senior Circuit.

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Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Odds

Will he or won't he?  Now that the Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach in Wade Phillips, the big question will be: Does Terrell Owens stay with the team.

Jerry Jones continues to suggest that Terrell Owens will remain with the team.

"I've said that he's back, he's here, he's under contract," Jones said. "In the interviews I've just been through (to hire a new coach), it was very clear to me how highly he's thought of and how much of an impact he had on our offensive success."

Just to be sure though, Terrell Owens cleared out his locker and removed his name plate.

Terrell Owens was among the Cowboys most productive players this past season, catching 85 passes for 1,180 yards and a league-best 13 touchdowns.

But T.O. is due a $3 million roster bonus in June, then a $5 million salary this season. Cutting him before then would save a lot of money and headaches.

Aside from the questions surrounding Terrell Owens, the oddsmakers at MySportsbook.com have concerns over starting quarterback Tony Romo's state of mind and whether he will remain a starting quarterback.  It is also not known how players will adjust to new head coach, Wade Phillips.

Here are the football odds as seen at MySportsbook.com and subject to change after February 10, 2007 if not locked in prior to that date.
Arizona Cardinals 60-1


Atlanta Falcons 50-1


Baltimore Ravens 15-1


Buffalo Bills 50-1


Carolina Panthers 18-1


Chicago Bears 10-1


Cincinnati Bengals 15-1


Cleveland Browns 100-1


Dallas Cowboys 15-1


Denver Broncos 15-1


Detroit Lions 100-1


Green Bay Packers 50-1


Houston Texans 100-1


Indianapolis Colts 6-1


Jacksonville Jaguars 30-1


Kansas City Chiefs 30-1


Miami Dolphins 40-1


Minnesota Vikings 75-1


New England Patriots 10-1


New Orleans Saints 18-1


New York Giants 20-1


New York Jets 30-1


Oakland Raiders 100-1


Philadelphia Eagles 18-1


Pittsburgh Steelers 10-1


Saint Louis Rams 60-1


San Diego Chargers 6-1


San Francisco 49ers 75-1


Seattle Seahawks 20-1


Tampa Bay Buccanneers 75-1


Tennessee Titans 40-1


Washington Redskins 50-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook credit cards needs.

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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