Astros go for series win at Petco
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07/02/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros shoot for a series win this afternoon over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, where the two ballclubs will wrap up a four-game set.
Houston has won five of its last seven games, including two of the first three matchups with the Padres. In Wednesday's 7-1 victory, Carlos Lee, Geoff Blum and Kaz Matsui all drove in runs to pull the Astros within four games of the top spot in the National League Central division. Matsui ended with two hits and Darin Erstad scored a pair of runs for Houston, which has won seven of the last eight encounters with San Diego.
Houston also swept a three-game series from San Diego from May 8-10 of this season. Astros starter Brian Moehler pitched six innings of one-run ball and scattered four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts to pick up the win.
"It was more of a stress game, but they were down 6-1 so I didn't think I had to be perfect with everything," said Moehler. "I just tried to limit the amount of damage. We made some pitches when we had to and we made some plays when we needed to."
The Astros will hand the ball to Wandy Rodriguez on Thursday and he is 6-6 with a 3.35 ERA in 16 starts this season. Rodriguez is 1-0 in his last two stints since going 0-4 in five previous trips to the hill. He is coming off a no-decision against Detroit on June 26, when he yielded four runs and seven hits in six innings of a 5-4 triumph.
Houston has now won three of his last four starts. Rodriguez, who is 3-4 in eight road outings this season, defeated San Diego earlier this year on May 8 with eight shutout innings of five-hit ball. The lefty also struck out seven batters and issued no walks, improving to 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last three starts in this series.
In five career games, four of which have been starts, against San Diego, Rodriguez is 2-2 with a 5.47 earned run average.
San Diego lost for the 12th time in 18 tries last night and didn't get much help from starting pitcher Walter Silva. Silva yielded six runs, three of which were earned, and five hits in four innings of work to absorb the loss.
Eliezer Alfonzo homered and Tony Gwynn added a pair of hits for the Friars, who were set back by a costly throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. Headley fired an errant throw on a roller hit by Moehler and the bases were cleared for a 6-1 Houston lead.
"It comes down to one play," said Headley. "If I make that play at third then we have a chance. It's hard to battle back."
Padres All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was in the lineup yesterday after straining his right knee in Tuesday's win. He appeared in his 284th consecutive game and now sits 21 shy of Steve Garvey's franchise mark. He finished 0-for-3 with his major league-leading 64th walk Wednesday.
San Diego starter Kevin Correia has been the ace of the staff lately and will try to run his personal win streak to three straight starts tonight in the finale of this four-game series versus the Astros.
Correia has taken over as the top arm in the rotation with Jake Peavy and Chris Young sidelined because of injury, and has won two straight and four of his last five trips to the mound. Correia previously pitched on June 27 at Texas and held the Rangers to three runs in seven innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 7-3 victory.
The right-hander, who is 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA in 15 starts, also sports a 3-2 mark in nine home games this season. Correia will face Houston for the second time this season after not factoring in the outcome of a 5-4 loss on May 9 at Minute Maid Park. He allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, and is 0-0 with a 3.06 ERA in six career games (2 starts) versus the Astros.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Before the New York Mets begin a critical three-game set in Philadelphia this weekend, they must first play a makeup game in the Keystone State against the Pittsburgh Pirates today at PNC Park. Today's contest was original
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Braves hope to break out the brooms against Phils >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves are gradually working their way up the
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Philadelphia
Yankees hope A-Rod stays hot in finale vs. Seattle >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez is starting to heat up. Not coincidentally,
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Reds, D-Backs close series in Cincy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds hope that Aaron Harang can have the
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Cueto tossed six shutout inning
Cardinals try to even up Giants in series finale >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Zito tries to slow down Albert Pujols this evening
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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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