Abreu helps Angels get by A's

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu drove in three runs and scored three times, as the Angels took down the Athletics, 7-4, to avoid a three-game sweep at the Oakland Coliseum.

Abreu and Mike Napoli each homered for Los Angeles, which ended a six-game road trip with a 3-3 mark. Hideki Matsui and Torii Hunter had an RBI apiece.

"We played pretty great today," Hunter said. "I think we played the game the right way today."

Ervin Santana (15-9) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over six innings to improve to 5-1 over his last six starts. The right-hander also walked four batters and fanned three.

Jeff Larish hit a two-run double for the Athletics, who have dropped five of seven. Vin Mazzaro (6-8) got rocked in 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits. The right-hander lost his sixth straight decision.

"He (Mazzaro) has a little blister on his finger that he's been battling. I think he went out there today and did the best he could," A's catcher Landon Powell said.

After stranding the bases loaded in the second, the Angels scored four times in the third inning. Howie Kendrick reached base when he grounded into a fielder's choice and crossed the plate on Abreu's homer to right-center. Matsui hit a two-out single and scored on Napoli's blast to left-center.

Oakland got a run back in the home third. Rajai Davis walked, stole second, and scored on Powell's single.

The A's scored two more runs in the fourth to cut the gap to 4-3. Jack Cust singled and Mark Ellis reached first on Erick Aybar's fielding error. Larish cleared the bases with a double to left-center field. Santana retired the next three batters to keep LA in front.

Los Angeles went ahead by two runs in the top of the fifth. Abreu walked and crossed the plate on Hunter's double for a 5-3 lead.

Oakland loaded the bases with two outs in the home fifth, but Larish struck out to end the threat.

The Angels plated two runs in the seventh to extend their margin to 7-3. Kendrick led off with a double and raced home on Abreu's single. Abreu stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on Matsui's base hit.

The A's scored a run off Fernando Rodney in the ninth. Coco Crisp led off with a single and moved to second two batters later on Gabe Gross' groundout. Cust followed with a bloop RBI single to left. Ellis' base hit put men on first and second, but Larish grounded out to end the game.

Game Notes

The Athletics and Angels have split 16 games this season...Oakland's last three-game sweep of the Angels took place at the Coliseum from June 29-July 1, 2004...Santana boasts a tremendous 12-3 record over 20 career matchups (18 starts) with Oakland and has been terrific as well at the Coliseum, where he's gone 6-1 in nine starts and a pair of relief efforts...Mazzaro fell to 1-2 lifetime against the Angels.

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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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