Seattle rallies in eighth to beat Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

04/27/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milton Bradley's bases-loaded walk accounted for the winning run, as the Seattle Mariners used a late three-run rally to defeat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2, at Kauffman Stadium.

Franklin Gutierrez and Jose Lopez both drove in a run in the eighth inning for the Mariners, who put the brakes on their four-game skid and in the process evened this three-game series after a 3-1 loss in Monday's opener. Ichiro Suzuki added two hits and a run scored in the victory.

Alberto Callaspo and Mitch Maier each registered an RBI for Kansas City, which saw its brief two-game win streak halted.

Zack Greinke pitched seven brilliant shutout innings but watched as the bullpen failed to hold the lead. Greinke allowed six hits and fanned five.

Josh Rupe (0-1) entered from the Kansas City bullpen for the eighth with the Royals leading, 2-0. Suzuki reached first via a bunt single with one out before Chone Figgins walked. An RBI single by Gutierrez cut the M's deficit in half and brought Robinson Tejeda onto the mound. A line drive by Lopez deflected off the glove of Tejeda and dribbled several feet beyond the infield, as Figgins raced home.

After Tejeda walked Ken Griffey Jr., Bruce Chen, the third pitcher of the frame for KC, took the hill with the bases loaded. Chen's free pass to Bradley forced home Gutierrez and created a 3-2 lead for Seattle. Strikeouts by Casey Kotchman and Adam Moore prevented further damage.

David Aardsma yielded a one-out single to David DeJesus in the bottom of the ninth, but Scott Podsednik grounded into a game-ending double play. Aardsma notched his seventh save of the campaign.

Shawn Kelley (1-0) picked up the win with 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings.

The Royals opened the scoring in the fourth inning. Jason Kendall drew a leadoff walk and scored two batters later when Maier tripled to right field.

Another KC run in the fifth -- again courtesy of an RBI triple -- pushed the Royals lead to 2-0. Billy Butler ripped a one-out single and came around to score on Callaspo's three-base hit.

Seattle got a leadoff single by Suzuki in the sixth, but he was caught stealing second when Figgins struck out. Gutierrez then grounded out to end the frame.

In the seventh, the visitors had runners on first and second with one out following consecutive singles by Griffey and Bradley. But a groundout by Kotchman and a fly ball off the bat of Moore kept the Mariners scoreless.

Game Notes

Ian Snell started for the Mariners and allowed two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks over 5 1/3 innings...The Royals ended 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position...The M's outhit the Royals, 10-9...The scheduled starting matchup for Wednesday's series finale will feature Seattle southpaw Ryan Rowland-Smith against Gil Meche.

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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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