Griffey homers to help Reds down Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2007 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ken Griffey Jr. hit career home run No. 593 and finished with three RBI, guiding the Cincinnati Reds to an 11-4 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers in the first of a three-game set at Great American Ball Park.

Josh Hamilton went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, a homer and a pair of RBI for the Reds, who have won two straight after dropping five in a row.

Bronson Arroyo (8-14) tossed 7 2/3 quality innings, yielding three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts.

Dave Bush (11-10), on the other hand, was battered for eight runs over just one-plus innings for Milwaukee, which remains in a tie for first in the NL Central after the Cubs fell to the Pirates Friday.

Prince Fielder hit his NL-leading 42nd homer in defeat.

The Reds put up six runs in the first inning to assume immediate command. Cincinnati quickly put runners on the corners with nobody out, and Griffey brought the first run in with a single to right. Brandon Phillips then reached safely on a fielder's choice before Adam Dunn singled in Alex Gonzalez for a 2-0 edge. Edwin Encarnacion followed with a two-run base hit a batter later, and Joey Votto's subsequent double scored two more to cap the surge.

Griffey upped the lead to 8-0 in the second with a majestic two-run homer to right, the 593rd of his career.

The offensive outburst continued in the third, as Hamilton drove in a run with a base hit to center, then moved to second on a throwing error. Gonzalez stepped in next and hit a double for a 10-0 Reds lead.

Fielder got the Brewers on the board with a leadoff homer in the fifth, and Craig Counsell added a pinch-hit RBI single later in the frame to make it 10-2. Mike Rivera then hit a two-out, solo homer in the eighth for Milwaukee.

Hamilton's solo shot in the bottom of the eighth upped the Reds advantage to nine runs, and Joe Dillon capped the scoring in the ninth with an RBI single.

Game Notes

Reds catcher Ryan Jorgensen has received a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program...The Baltimore Orioles purchased right-handed relief pitcher Victor Santos from the Reds for cash on Friday...The Brewers have lost seven of eight on the road, and are now 26-43 away from home this season...Brewers manager Ned Yost was ejected in the third arguing balls and strikes...This was Bush's shortest start of his career. He is 0-1 with an 18.37 ERA in three starts versus the Reds this year.

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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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