Cardinals attempt to rebound against Braves

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After receiving a double dose of bad news on Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals will try to get back on their feet when the 2006 world champs continue a four-game series with the Atlanta Braves tonight at Turner Field.

The Cardinals learned yesterday that ace pitcher Chris Carpenter needs to undergo Tommy John surgery on his troublesome elbow and will miss the remainder of this season, as well as a significant portion of 2008. St. Louis then proceeded to get smoked by the Braves in the opener of this weekend set.

Atlanta scored 10 times over the first four innings en route to an easy 10-1 victory. Andruw Jones and Matt Diaz each homered and knocked in three runs, with Diaz ended 3-for-4 on the evening and Jones scoring three times.

Chipper Jones added a pair of hits and three runs scored to help the Braves rebound from an embarrassing three-game home sweep by Cincinnati. Jeff Francoeur contributed two hits and two RBI to the winning effort.

Julio Franco delivered a two-run single in the ageless veteran's first game back in a Braves uniform. The 48-year-old, who played for Atlanta from 2001-05, had been released by the Mets earlier this month.

Tim Hudson (10-5) cruised to his 10th victory of 2007 by limiting St. Louis to a run on five hits over seven innings of work.

Cardinals starter Mike Maroth (0-3) wasn't nearly as effective, as the lefty was battered for 10 runs and 11 hits in five innings.

St. Louis, which had won three of four prior to Thursday's rout, was without third baseman Scott Rolen (shoulder) for a second consecutive game. However, center fielder Jim Edmonds was activated from the disabled list and went 1- for-3 in his first action since June 15.

The Cardinals turn to ex-Braves farmhand Adam Wainwright tonight in hopes of getting back on track. The right-hander was Atlanta's first-round choice in the 2000 draft and pitched in the Braves system until being dealt to the Cardinals in December, 2003 as part of the trade that landed J.D. Drew in Atlanta.

Wainwright, a native of Brunswick, Georgia, will be making his first career start versus the Braves. He did throw four scoreless innings over three relief appearances against Atlanta as a rookie last season.

The 25-year-old has also been pitching very well as of late. Wainwright fired seven shutout innings to defeat the Phillies last Sunday and is 3-1 with a 3.24 earned run average over his four most recent starts.

Atlanta counters with a Georgia product of its own in Chuck James, who sports an identical 8-7 season record as Wainwright and is also in the midst of a good recent stretch.

James has yielded just two runs in 17 2/3 innings over his last three starts. The left-hander recorded back-to-back road wins over the Marlins and Dodgers to close out his first half, then came through with six shutout innings against Pittsburgh last Saturday.

The 25-year-old allowed just two hits and three walks in that game but did not factor in the decision of Atlanta's 5-4 win.

James' lone career appearance against the Cardinals came on July 5, 2006 at Turner Field. He wound up with the victory after giving up four runs over six innings of a 14-4 Atlanta triumph.

Thursday's contest was the first 2007 meeting between these teams. Atlanta won four of six matchups with St. Louis last season and is 5-1 in its last six games against the Cardinals at Turner Field.

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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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