Pirates hope to leave Chicago with sweep of Cubs
Baseball Betting Lines
05/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas-born righty Ross Ohlendorf faces the Chicago Cubs for the second time in a brief major-league career today when the Pittsburgh Pirates visit Wrigley Field to close out a three-game series.
The Pirates have won the first two games and all five between the teams this season, winning Saturday, 4-3, helped by Ryan Church's two-run double and Jeff Clement's solo homer.
Andrew McCutchen added a pair of hits, an RBI and a run scored for Pittsburgh. McCutchen is 11-for-14 at the plate this season against the Cubs.
The Pirates improved to 7-11 in 18 road games.
Paul Maholm (3-3) picked up the win after allowing two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and did not issue a walk over six innings. Octavio Dotel recorded his seventh save of the season despite giving up a run in the ninth inning.
Aramis Ramirez had a two-run double and Kosuke Fukudome added a pinch-hit RBI triple in the ninth for the Cubs, who have dropped nine of their last 11.
Ryan Dempster (2-4) suffered the loss for yielding three runs on four hits and five walks in six innings of work. The right-hander, who has lost his last four starts, finished with nine strikeouts.
Ohlendorf has made just two starts this season along with a stint on the 15- day disabled list. He gave up three runs in five innings of a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 7, then returned from injury to toss four innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 loss to Cincinnati May 10.
An 11-game winner for Pittsburgh last season, Ohlendorf gave up four hits in seven shutout innings for a win in his lone career appearance against Chicago.
Veteran lefty Ted Lilly faces the Pirates for the second time this season after a 4-2 loss May 5 at PNC Park in which he was touched for nine hits and four runs in six innings.
Lilly began his 2010 season with six shutout innings in a 5-1 defeat of Milwaukee on April 24, but has since lost to Arizona, Pittsburgh and Florida while allowing 21 hits and 14 earned runs in 18 innings.
He's 4-3 lifetime against the Pirates with a 4.44 earned run average in 71 innings.
Lilly is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA at Wrigley this season.
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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
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