Ramirez, Marlins host Pirates in Miami
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez will try to stretch his franchise-record RBI streak to 11 games this evening when the Florida Marlins begin a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Land Shark Stadium.
Florida, meanwhile, has won eight of its last 11 games and has moved into a tie atop the NL East with the struggling Philadelphia Phillies.
Ramirez has been a huge reason behind the latest surge, as he has hit .475 (19-for-40) with five homers and 24 RBI over the last 10 games, knocking in at least one run in each of those contests.
"They are doing a good job getting on base," said Ramirez, who banged out eight hits and seven RBI in the Marlins' recent three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. "It's a team, not just me."
His RBI streak, which is the longest ever by an NL shortstop, is also the longest in the majors since Garret Anderson had a 12-game run from August 26- September 7, 2007, while with the Los Angles Angels.
Hoping to keep the Marlins atop the division tonight will be 22-year-old right-hander Chris Volstad, who has just one win over his last six starts. Volstad did not factor in the decision of his team's 3-2 loss to Tampa on Saturday, as he allowed a pair of runs and five hits in six innings.
Volstad, who is 5-7 with a 4.63 earned run average on the season, has never faced the Pirates.
Pittsburgh will counter with righty Charlie Morton, who is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA in three starts for the Bucs. Morton, acquired from Atlanta in the Nate McLouth deal, absorbed his first loss of the season on Sunday against Kansas City, which reached him for three runs and seven hits in five innings.
This will be Morton's fourth-ever start against the Marlins and is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in the three previous encounters.
The Pirates lost in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday, as they blew an early five-run lead, only to rally with three runs in the ninth to send the game to extra innings, before dropping a 9-8 decision to the New York Mets in the makeup contest of a postponed June 3 game from PNC Park.
Garrett Jones went 3-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and three runs scored for the Pirates, losers in four of their last five. Adam LaRoche launched a two-run home run, and Robinzon Diaz also posted three hits and knocked in a pair.
Matt Capps (1-4) surrendered the go-ahead run in the 10th for the loss. Paul Maholm didn't make it out of the fifth during his start, touched for 11 hits and six runs over 4 1/3 frames.
"I was very proud of the way our guys batted back," Pirates manager John Russell said. "It's easy just to fold up, especially when Rodriguez comes in the game...I was really proud of the effort today."
Pittsburgh swept a three-game set from the Marlins in April and has won four straight and five of the last six matchups in the series.
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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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