Wells leads Dodgers over Giants

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2007 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Wells tossed seven innings of four- hit ball and had a perfect game through five innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers took the second game of their weekend series with the San Francisco Giants, 6-2, at AT&T Park.

Wells (7-8) finished with four strikeouts and no walks, allowing two earned runs on four hits.

Luis Gonzalez hit a three-run home run and Tony Abreu had an RBI to provide the offense for Wells and the Dodgers, who have won five of their last seven. They entered the day 2 1/2 games behind leader San Diego in the wild card standings.

Barry Zito (9-12) took the loss for San Francisco, allowing three earned runs on four hits in six innings, striking out five and walking three.

Nate Schierholtz had an RBI triple and Rajai Davis scored a run for the Giants, who managed just four hits.

San Francisco saw a two-game win streak snapped, and has now lost six of nine.

The Dodgers took a first-inning lead on Gonzalez's two-out three-run homer, which scored Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp. Pierre grounded a one-out single off Zito, and Kemp had worked a walk.

The 44-year old Wells carried a perfect game into the sixth, and retired Guillermo Rodriguez for the first out before Kevin Frandsen singled to left to give the Giants their first baserunner. Two batters later, Wells' shutout was gone as well.

Pinch-hitter Scott McClain followed Frandsen by grounding into a fielder's choice, then came home on a single by Davis and a throwing error by Dodgers third baseman Shea Hillenbrand. Schierholtz then tripled over the head of Pierre to score Davis, trimming the LA lead to 3-2.

But the Dodgers posted three in the ninth against relievers Steve Kline and Scott Munter to provide some insurance. Abreu brought home Gonzalez, who had walked to lead off the inning, with an RBI single. Ramon Martinez followed with a ground ball single that scored James Loney, and Rafael Furcal executed a sacrifice bunt to score Abreu.

Game Notes

Pierre went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games...Gonzalez now has 144 career RBI against the Giants, his most against any one opponent...Wells is now 38-25 all-time in September...Zito recorded his sixth consecutive quality start, but is just 1-2 (2.57 ERA) in those outings...Giants slugger Barry Bonds struck out in a pinch-hit role in the eighth inning.

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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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