Cards send Wainwright to hill vs. Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Wainwright will try to become just the second 14-game winner in the major leagues and remain perfect at home when he leads the St. Louis Cardinals into the third test of a four-game series tonight versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium.

Colorado Rockies ace and All-Star starter Ubaldo Jimenez leads the big leagues with 15 wins, while Wainwright is second with a 13-5 record and 2.11 earned run average in 19 starts. Wainwright is an All-Star himself and has won three straight and seven of his last nine starts, including an 8-0 win at Houston on July 9. He fired eight scoreless innings and struck out four batters.

The right-hander is 9-0 with a 1.43 ERA in nine home starts and may run into some trouble today versus a Dodgers club that beat him back on June 9 at Chavez Ravine. Wainwright allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings of a 4-3 setback, falling to 2-3 in nine career games (6 starts) against LA.

St. Louis has won three in a row and the first two portions of this series, including Friday's 8-4 triumph behind a two-run homer and four RBI from Yadier Molina. Randy Winn drove in a pair of runs and Felipe Lopez ended 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Cardinals, who are still a half-game behind Cincinnati for the top spot in the NL Central.

"We've done a good job of getting the count in our favor and when the ball's in the strike zone we've been aggressive with it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We've done a good job of forcing near the middle of the plate and getting good hacks."

Jaime Garcia started for La Russa's club and did not record a decision after giving up two runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings. Kyle McClellan earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

The Cardinals will also host Philadelphia for four games after this set.

Los Angeles has lost two straight and three of four games, and sits tied with San Francisco at 3 1/2 games off the NL West lead. In last night's loss to the Cards, Chad Billingsley was roughed up for seven runs and 10 hits in four innings to absorb the loss.

"They put the ball in play, found holes and made things happen," Billingsley said. "It was one of those days."

James Loney had three hits and an RBI, while Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp both finished with two hits and knocked in a run for LA. Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez left the game in the first inning because of a calf injury and is listed as day-to-day. Ramirez was just activated from the 15-day disabled list this week due to a hamstring ailment.

Meanwhile, Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda has been struggling for a while and will take the mound Saturday at Busch Stadium. Kuroda is 2-6 with a 4.96 earned run average in his last nine starts and has lost back-to-back trips to the mound.

In a 4-0 loss to Florida on July 7, Kuroda was pounded for four runs and six hits in seven innings, while striking out four batters. The loss evened Kuroda's mark at 7-7 in 17 starts this season and raised his ERA to 3.87.

The Japanese right-hander, who is 4-4 in eight road starts this season, did not factor into the outcome of a 1-0 win over St. Louis on June 8. Kuroda delivered seven shutout frames and six K's for the no-decision that day and is 0-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two career starts in this series.

The Dodgers swept a three-game set at home versus the Cardinals from June 7-9 after losing five of seven to the club last season.

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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. online football betting 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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