O's edge Royals in 11 innings

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ty Wigginton hit two sacrifice fly balls, including the game-winner in the 11th, helping the Baltimore Orioles snap a five-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson both homered for Baltimore, which announced on Thursday that Buck Showalter will take over as manager next week. Brian Roberts went 2-for-6 and scored twice in the win.

Brian Matusz continued his struggles, allowing five runs in 3 1/3 innings, but was spared the losing decision. David Hernandez (5-7) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, and Alfredo Simon earned his 15th save.

Yuniesky Betancourt had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals, who saw their losing streak reach five. Jason Kendall and Rick Ankiel each added two hits in the loss.

Kyle Davies yielded four runs (three earned) in a 5 2/3-inning start, walking four and fanning three.

With Blake Wood (0-2) beginning his second inning of work in the 11th, Cesar Izturis worked a leadoff walk and moved to third on Roberts' single to right.

Markakis sent a ground ball to second, but Mike Aviles was able to throw out Izturis trying to score. Izturis remained in a rundown long enough for Roberts to gain third base, and he scored on Wigginton's deep fly ball to left.

Simon came on to save the game, but yielded a leadoff single to Aviles, who was quickly erased on Ankiel's double play groundout. Betancourt kept the game alive with a base hit, but Alex Gordon lined out to first to end the game.

The Orioles scored single runs in each of the first three innings to build a lead.

Roberts led off the game with a double and later scored on Wigginton's sacrifice fly in the first, and Izturis' RBI fielder's choice groundout doubled the lead in the second.

Markakis led off the third with a homer before the Royals stormed back with five runs in the fourth.

Matusz quickly allowed the bases to become loaded on a pair of walks and a double to start the inning, and he issued another walk to Wilson Betemit to force home KC's first run. Aviles followed with a sacrifice fly before Ankiel's single again loaded the bases.

Mark Hendrickson came in from the bullpen to protect the 3-2 lead, but Betancourt greeted him with an RBI single. Betemit also scored on the play on an error in the outfield, and Gordon followed with another run-scoring hit for a 5-3 contest.

Baltimore, though, came back to tie the game.

In the sixth, Felix Pie walked with one away and moved to third on an error by Betancourt. Patterson followed with an RBI fielder's choice groundout to cut the Orioles' deficit to one.

Patterson evened the contest in the eighth with a two-out solo blast off Robinson Tejeda.

Game Notes

The Orioles also made a roster shakeup on Thursday, trading third baseman Miguel Tejada to San Diego in exchange for a minor league pitcher...The Orioles lead the season series, 2-1...Kansas City had won each of Davies' last four outings...Showalter will take over on Monday and manage his first game on Tuesday.

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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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