Cards try to make it two straight wins in Washington

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals will try move closer towards a playoff berth tonight in the third test of a four-game series against the homestanding Washington Nationals.

The Cardinals are one game off the wild card lead in the National League and sit four games behind Cincinnati for NL Central supremacy. After losing the opener of this series in 13 innings on Thursday, St. Louis responded with a 4-2 triumph Friday thanks to solo homers from Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. Pujols owns 401 home runs in his career after belting No. 400 a day before.

Jon Jay also plated a run and starter Jaime Garcia threw 5 1/3 shutout innings with seven strikeouts to improve to 12-6. Ryan Franklin gave up a run in the ninth and still managed to post his 22nd save of the season.

"Every game is big, especially in the situation we're in now," Garcia said.

Hoping to duplicate Garcia's success on the mound tonight will be Kyle Lohse, who is just 2-5 with a 6.47 ERA in 11 starts this season. He ended a two-game slide his last time out in a win at Pittsburgh on Monday, as he limited the Pirates to two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 frames.

Lohse, a right-hander, beat Washington on May 17 this season and is 3-1 in nine career matchups, seven of which have been starts, with the Nationals.

Washington is still trying to get over the awful news that pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg will likely undergo Tommy John surgery on his right arm, and may not be available until the 2012 campaign.

The Nationals sustained their fifth loss in six tries last night, as Willie Harris homered and Ian Desmond ended with three hits and a run scored.

"We had 12 hits. The opportunities are out there," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "That means we're competitive against tough pitchers and tough ball clubs."

Scott Olsen took the loss for Riggleman's club after yielding three runs -- one earned -- in six innings.

Toeing the rubber for the Nats tonight will be veteran Livan Hernandez. The big right-hander, however, is 0-2 in his last four starts and was beaten by the Cubs on Monday at Nationals Park. In the 9-1 decision, Hernandez gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Hernandez was coming off seven innings of two-run ball at Atlanta, but couldn't carry the success into his most recent outing. He is 8-9 in 26 starts this season and 5-7 in 18 career meetings -- all starts -- against St. Louis.

Washington halted a six-game losing streak in this series with Thursday's triumph. St. Louis has still prevailed in 14 of the last 17 meetings between the teams and swept a two-game set from the Nationals at Busch Stadium in May.

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Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Super Bowl XLIII, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.

The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.

The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.

Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.

MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:

Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)

Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)

Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.

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