Heads up: Penny goes for 12th win as Dodgers take on Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Penny will try for his 12th win of the season this afternoon when the Los Angeles Dodgers continue their four-game series with the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium.

Penny has been outstanding so far this year, posting an 11-1 mark, and is tied with Oakland's Dan Haren for the third best earned run average in the majors at 2.33.

The right-hander is 6-0 over 10 starts since his lone loss of the season on May 18 against the Angels. He has allowed one run or fewer in eight of those outings, including Monday against the Phillies in which Penny posted a win behind seven frames of four-hit, one-run ball with eight strikeouts.

It was a good sign for Penny, who was hammered for six runs in four innings of a no-decision on July 5 against Atlanta.

Penny, who is just 4-10 with a 5.82 ERA in 17 career starts against New York, is trying to avoid a second-half letdown that ruined his season last year. He went 10-2 before the All-Star break in 2006, but went just 6-7 in the second half with a 6.25 ERA.

Jorge Sosa will start this afternoon for the Mets coming off a tough-luck loss at San Diego. Against the Padres on Monday, Sosa allowed only two runs on five hits over six innings, but got little run support in New York's 5-1 loss. The defeat dropped Sosa to 7-4 on the year with a 3.84 ERA.

The right-hander, who is 1-3 over his last five outings, has made six lifetime appearances against the Dodgers, with two of those being starts. In that span, he is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA after allowing 10 runs over 16 total innings. Sosa started against the Dodgers on June 13 and took the loss after yielding six runs over 5 2/3 frames.

Sosa will try to secure a series win for the Mets, who captured the second game of this set on Friday, 4-1, after outslugging the Dodgers 13-9 on Thursday.

Carlos Beltran homered for the second straight game and David Wright had an RBI for the Mets, who have won five of seven and have stretched their lead over the Braves to 3 1/2 games for the top spot in the National League East.

Oliver Perez (9-6) threw 7 1/3 strong innings, allowing six hits and a run with eight strikeouts. Billy Wagner threw the final inning for his 21st save.

New York, though, lost the reliable Jose Valentin, as the second baseman fractured his right tibia after fouling a ball off his leg in the fourth innings.

Nomar Garciaparra homered for the Dodgers, just his third long ball of the season, while Juan Pierre extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the first inning. He also stole his 40th base of the season.

Brett Tomko gave up five hits and an unearned run over six innings in the start. Roberto Hernandez (0-1) allowed two hits and three runs -- two earned -- in the eighth inning, as the Dodgers lost for the third time in four games and still trail the first-place Padres by just a percentage point in the NL West.

The Dodgers swept a three-game series against New York this season from June 11-13 at Chavez Ravine. The Mets went 4-3 against LA in the 2006 series and swept Los Angeles in three games during last October's NL playoffs.

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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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