Owings homers, pitches Reds over Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Micah Owings tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and hit his third home run of the year, lifting Cincinnati to a 5-2 victory against St. Louis in the second of three games between these NL Central rivals.

Joey Votto also homered and tripled, knocking in two, while Willy Taveras collected three hits and scored a run for the Reds, who had won four of five before dropping the opener to this set.

Owings (6-8) won for the third time in four starts, allowing six hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Francisco Cordero picked up his 20th save of the season by hurling a perfect ninth.

Brad Thompson (2-5) took the loss after lasting five frames and yielding five runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and two walks. Colby Rasmus hit a solo home run for the Cardinals, who had a three-game win streak broken.

St. Louis gained a short-lived lead on Rasmus' solo shot in the first, but Cincy tied it up in the home half when Taveras singled, stole second and scored easily on Votto's triple to right.

Owings helped himself with a solo blast to center the very next inning and the Reds went on to back his effort on the mound with three runs in the next two frames for a 5-1 lead.

A pair of errors in the third allowed Brandon Phillips first to reach base and score, and Votto began the fifth with his 10th home run of the year. Jerry Hairston Jr. plated Phillips with a fielder's choice later in the frame for the four-run advantage.

The Cards got one back in the sixth when Albert Pujols singled, advanced on a Chris Duncan walk and then on a fielder's choice before scoring on an errant throw from right following a Yadier Molina fly ball.

Nick Masset got Pujols to ground out to end the seventh with two on, and Arthur Rhodes tossed a scoreless eighth prior to Cordero shutting the door in the ninth.

Game Notes

Cincinnati gained a 5-4 lead in the season series with the win...Skip Schumaker had two of the Cardinals' eight hits...Taveras swiped his 16th bag of the year...St. Louis was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while Cincinnati was 1-for-11.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."

Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

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