Athletics continue road trip against Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics are still searching for a win on their current road trip, as they begin a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs this evening from historic Wrigley Field.

Oakland was swept in three games at San Francisco to kick off the nine-game excursion and fell to 4-9 this month following Sunday's 6-2 loss against the Giants at AT&T Park. Jack Cust had a team-high three hits and both Kevin Kouzmanoff and Landon Powell knocked in a run for the A's, who received a rough outing from starter Vin Mazzaro.

Mazzaro allowed four runs -- three earned -- and six hits through six innings to suffer his first loss of the 2010 campaign (2-1).

"We had too many things go wrong in a three-game series to overcome," said Oakland manager Bob Geren.

Kouzmanoff is riding a 14-game hitting streak in which he owns three homers and 11 RBI. Oakland will also visit St. Louis on the trek and is four games off the lead in the American League West standings.

Trevor Cahill hopes to get the A's back into the win column when he makes his 10th start of the season tonight. Cahill is 4-0 with a 1.91 earned run average over his last five starts and defeated the LA Angels of Anaheim the previous time out on Thursday, as he tossed eight innings of one-run ball.

Cahill, a right-hander, pushed his record to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.91 after it was 4.37 following a loss to the Angels back on May 16. He has never faced the Cubs in his career.

The Cubs will continue a nine-game homestand Tuesday and ended a three-game slide by salvaging the finale of a three-game set versus the crosstown-rival White Sox with a 1-0 win on Sunday behind a stellar performance by Ted Lilly.

Lilly did not allow a hit through eight innings and permitted a leadoff single to Juan Pierre in the ninth inning. Lilly struck out three batters in just his second win of the season and Carlos Marmol posted his 13th save despite walking a pair of hitters in a scoreless ninth inning.

"We're in a situation there where they're going to have a chance to tie it up," Lilly said. "How many times in those situations have we seen where Marmol walks a guy or falls behind in the count and then finds a way?"

Chad Tracy drove in the lone run of the game in the seventh inning for Chicago, which is 7 1/2 games off the lead in the NL Central.

Carlos Zambrano will try to build off his latest winning start when he takes the mound tonight. A recent demotion to the bullpen may have worked for Zambrano, who recently took the hill in a 9-4 win at Milwaukee last Wednesday and yielded three runs in five innings.

Zambrano is 2-4 with a 6.05 earned run average in 19 games -- six starts -- this season and will face Oakland for the second time in his career. The fiery right-hander beat the A's back on June 20, 2004 and held them to a run and five hits with eight K's in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-3 victory.

Chicago won two of three meetings with Oakland from June 18-20 of the 2004 campaign and is 93-100 against the American League. The Athletics own a solid 131-105 ledger in games played against the Senior Circuit.

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Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

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