Lohse hoping to pitch Cardinals past Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though the St. Louis Cardinals appear to be loaded at the top of their pitching rotation, the back end could use some work.

Kyle Lohse gets a chance to claim his rotation spot this evening, when St. Louis tries to gain more ground in the National League Central with the second contest of a three-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

The Cardinals' top three starters of Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia have combined to notch 45 wins, but closer Ryan Franklin ranks fourth on the club with six victories. Jake Westbrook, Jeff Suppan and Lohse have just four victories between the three of them.

Lohse, a 15-game winner in 2008 with St. Louis, is just 2-6 with a 7.12 earned run average in 12 starts this year and will pitch tonight on nine days' rest after getting drilled for eight runs on 11 hits over five innings in an Aug. 28 loss in Washington.

Still, manager Tony La Russa won't hesitate in giving the start to Lohse tonight.

"Kyle gets the ball Tuesday because I think there's an anticipation he's got the best chance to get us a [win]," he told St. Louis' website. "And then that spot comes again [next] Sunday. So it's an opportunity for him to justify the confidence."

The 31-year-old righty's first start of the season came in Milwaukee on April 9, and he got a no-decision after yielding four runs over six innings. He is 3-5 with a 5.24 ERA versus the Brewers lifetime.

Lohse will try to keep the Cardinals' momentum going after they picked up their third victory in four games following a five-game slide with Monday's 8-6 triumph over Milwaukee.

The Cardinals snapped a 2-2 tie with six runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Yadier Molina's second career grand slam. Westbrook gave up two runs over a six-inning start and Mitchell Boggs got the win in relief.

The victory pulled St. Louis to within six games of first-place Cincinnati.

"It was a great win," said La Russa. "[The Brewers] are a tough club to play here because of all that power. We got touched up at the end, but everybody got the outs that they needed."

Corey Hart hit a pair of homers and Rickie Weeks added a solo shot for Milwaukee, which has lost six of its last seven.

Yovani Gallardo threw seven innings for the Brewers and was charged with two runs on four hits. Zach Braddock was tagged with the loss in relief.

"Gallardo threw the ball very well and gave us the innings that we needed," said Milwaukee manager Ken Macha. "It was a big night for Corey with the two home runs. We just didn't get the bullpen help we needed."

The Brewers send Chris Narveson to the hill tonight, and the left-hander has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last seven starts. He has also given up just three runs in his last two outings, including a no-decision in Cincinnati on Wednesday in which he allowed a run on two hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings.

Narveson is 10-7 with a 5.33 ERA in 32 games (23 starts) this year and 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA lifetime against the Cardinals. That loss came in his last matchup with them, which took place on July 2 in St. Louis, and he was charged with four runs over five innings.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.