Marlins beat Padres to begin weekend series

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gaby Sanchez and Cody Ross homered to lead the Florida Marlins past the San Diego Padres, 4-2, in the opener of a three- game series.

Hanley Ramirez and Logan Morrison each drove in a run for the Marlins, who have won two in a row and four of six overall.

Chris Volstad (5-8) went five-plus frames in the start, allowing two runs on seven hits. The right-hander won for the first time since June 13 against the Rays. Leo Nunez recorded his 25th save of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley had an RBI apiece for the Padres, who had won five of six coming in. Miguel Tejada went 0-for-3 with a walk in his San Diego debut. He was acquired Thursday along with cash considerations from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor league right-hander Wynn Pelzer.

Wade LeBlanc (5-9) allowed four runs on five hits in a 6 1/3-inning start.

The Padres drew first blood with a run in the first. Jerry Hairston Jr. singled and stole second with two outs. Tejada walked in front of Headley's base hit. Hairston scored on the play, but Tejada was thrown out between third and home to end the inning.

Florida plated two runs in the third to go ahead. Wes Helms walked and Ronny Paulino singled. The runners advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt. Ramirez then hit a sacrifice fly. Morrison followed with an RBI single for a 2-1 lead.

Ross' solo homer in the fourth gave the Marlins a 3-1 advantage. San Diego stranded men on the corners in the home fourth.

Sanchez made it 4-1 with a solo blast in the top of the sixth. The Padres, though, got the run back in the bottom half on Gonzalez's run-scoring single.

Game Notes

San Diego's five-game win streak over the Marlins came to a halt...The Padres optioned outfielder Aaron Cunningham to Triple-A Portland...Volstad improved to 2-2 lifetime against the Padres...San Diego catcher Yorvit Torrealba went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

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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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