Astros continue road trip in Steel City against Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

04/24/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The struggling Houston Astros will resume their nine-game road trip this evening against the NL Central-rival Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Houston is 3-3 so far on the trip and has lost three in a row, including Monday's 11-4 setback against the Philadelphia Phillies in a make-up game at Citizens Bank Park. It was a make-up contest from last Sunday's rainout and both teams celebrated Jackie Robinson Day originally scheduled on the postponed date. Every player wore Robinson's number 42.

Craig Biggio hit his 51st career leadoff homer and Lance Berkman also went deep for the Astros, who are 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee for the top spot in the Central Division. Mark Loretta drove in two runs for Houston.

Houston starter Chris Sampson (2-1) suffered the loss and yielded seven runs on 14 hits with four strikeouts and one walk in four-plus innings.

Taking the ball for the Astros in Tuesday's series opener in the Steel City is Woody Williams. Williams is 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA in four starts this season, and did not factor into the decision his last time out on April 19 against Cincinnati. The righty allowed six runs and seven hits over six innings.

Williams lost his Astros debut on April 4 against Pittsburgh, surrendering five runs -- three earned -- on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. In 14 career starts against the Pirates, Williams is 7-3 with a 3.63 earned run average.

Pittsburgh will open a nine-game homestand this evening and ended a four-game losing streak with Sunday's 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the finale of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.

Chris Duffy went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and Jason Bay ended with two RBI, as Pittsburgh completed a seven-game road swing with a 3-4 mark. Adam LaRoche homered and Jose Bautista had two hits and scored a run in the win.

Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny continued his hot start to the season, allowing three runs on five hits in six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. He is now 3-0 on the season.

The Bucos are four games off the lead in the Central standings.

Pittsburgh will send Paul Maholm to the hill today and the southpaw is still in search of his first win of the season. Maholm is 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA and was dealt the loss in his last start on April 18 against Milwaukee, as he gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

In four career starts against Houston, Maholm is 1-2 with a 6.53 earned run average.

Pittsburgh is 3-0 against the Astros this season after a season-opening sweep at Minute Maid Park. Houston, though, went 13-3 against the Bucos last season.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.