Cardinals shoot for needed series win in Milwaukee

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took a lot longer than expected, but Milwaukee reliever Trevor Hoffman finally picked up his 600th career save. The St. Louis Cardinals would have preferred that he waited a few more days.

The Cardinals will try to rebound tonight for a series win as Jamie Garcia tries for a fourth straight winning start in the finale of a three-game set with the Brewers at Miller Park.

Hoffman began the season as Milwaukee's closer and with 591 career saves, the most all-time, but struggled early on and eventually lost his role to John Axford. However, with the Brewers long out of the playoff race, manager Ken Macha has given the 42-year-old some opportunities to close out games.

Last night's save, as Hoffman locked down a 4-2 Milwaukee win, was his third since Aug. 18 and helped him reach the milestone.

"Accomplishments like this are shared among a lot of people, and I think it just validates the work you put in and the ballplayer that good things can happen," Hoffman said.

Casey McGehee put the Brewers ahead for good with a two-run single in the fifth inning, driving in three runs total on three hits. Prince Fielder also drove in a run for Milwaukee, which had lost six of seven coming in.

Chris Narveson picked up the win, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out nine over seven innings.

Yadier Molina and Colby Rasmus each drove in a run for the Cardinals, who had won three of four and remained six games back of Cincinnati for first place in the National League Central. They are also 5 1/2 games off the pace in the NL Wild Card race.

Kyle Lohse took the loss, yielding four runs in five innings.

"Tough way to lose. It's frustrating to give up the two-out hits again," Lohse said.

The Cardinals hope that Garcia has better luck tonight, a safe bet given that the 24-year-old is 3-0 with a 0.86 earned run average over his last three starts. After posting two straight scoreless outings that spanned 14 1/3 innings, Garcia was charged with two runs over 6 2/3 frames in beating the Reds on Friday.

The left-hander is 13-6 with a 2.35 ERA this year, and that includes a loss to the Brewers on Aug. 17, even though he allowed just three unearned runs over six innings. Garcia is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA in five lifetime meetings with Milwaukee, four of those starts.

Chris Capuano counters for the Brewers and he is coming off a tough loss to Philadelphia on Friday. The 32-year-old southpaw allowed just a run over five innings, but got no support in a 1-0 setback.

Capuano is 2-3 with a 4.62 ERA in 19 games this year, four of those starts. He is 4-5 with a 5.59 ERA in 13 career games against the Cardinals, all but one of those starts.

Milwaukee and St. Louis have split 14 meetings this year, with the Brewers winning six of the last nine meetings.

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

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Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

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MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

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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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