Giants hope to secure series win over Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

08/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants try for a series victory over the Chicago Cubs this afternoon in the finale of a four-game series at AT&T Park.

The NL Wild Card-leading Giants have won two of the first three installments of this set and are coming off last night's 5-4 win. Pat Burrell homered and finished with three RBI, while Aaron Rowand also went deep for the Giants, who remained 2 1/2 games behind San Diego for the NL West lead.

"He plays with a lot of intensity, he's been through it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Burrell, who's batting .293 with eight homers for San Francisco. "He's had a lot of fun with this, being in the National League and being in the race."

Shortstop Edgar Renteria was placed on the disabled list for the third time this season due to a strained left biceps. Juan Uribe took over at shortstop and went 1-for-4 last night.

San Francisco, which is a game ahead of both Philadelphia and Cincinnati for the final playoff spot in the National League, got a subpar outing from veteran Barry Zito on Wednesday. Zito threw 6 1/3 innings and permitted four runs and 10 hits in the no-decision.

Sergio Romo tossed 1 2/3 innings of relief for the win and Brian Wilson registered his 33rd save with two K's in the ninth.

Matt Cain gets the nod for Bochy's club tonight and he's 9-9 with a 3.06 earned run average in 23 starts. Cain was 3-0 in four starts before losing his most recent outing on Saturday at Atlanta, as he gave up three runs in five innings of a 3-0 loss.

The big righty, who is 6-3 in 11 home starts, will make his ninth career start against the Cubs this afternoon. Cain is 5-2 over the first eight appearances, all of which have been starts.

Chicago has dropped five of six games and got homers from Tyler Colvin and Marlon Byrd in Wednesday's loss. Tom Gorzelanny did not record a decision and pitched six innings of four-run ball. Justin Berg was dealt the loss for surrendering Burrell's leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth.

"The guys battled, I can't fault that," Cubs acting manager Alan Trammell said. "We're somewhat shorthanded again, limited here and there. It seems that's too much of the story."

The Cubs may not have third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the lineup Thursday because of sore ribs, while first baseman Derrek Lee is on the bereavement list to be with his ailing grandfather.

Chicago hopes starter Randy Wells can stop his personal three-game losing streak when he takes the ball Thursday. Wells was decent in Saturday's 4-3 loss versus Cincinnati, but suffered the loss for allowing three runs on five hits and two walks in seven innings.

Wells is 5-10 in 23 overall starts and 2-5 through 11 trips to the visiting mound this season. The right-hander lost his only start to San Francisco on September 27 last season in a 5-1 loss. He tossed 5 1/3 innings and was reached for five runs and 10 hits.

Chicago and San Francisco are meeting for the first time since the Cubs took four of six matchups a year ago, including three of four at AT&T Park. The Cubs have won 14 of the last 23 encounters with the Giants.

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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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