Braves top Cubs; Lilly ejected in first inning

Baseball Betting Lines

06/11/2007 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ted Lilly was tossed in the first inning for plunking Edgar Renteria and, though the Chicago bullpen pitched well for the first seven innings, everything fell apart for Ryan Dempster in the eighth, as the Atlanta Braves came back to top the Cubs, 5-4, and earn a split in their four-game set.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 3-for-4 with a double and a run, and Kelly Johnson homered for the Braves, who have won two in a row, but have lost six of their last nine games. Chad Paronto (3-1) tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, and Bob Wickman picked up his 11th save.

Atlanta starter Buddy Carlyle gave up seven hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings, fanning four for the Braves.

Michael Barrett and Mike Fontenot homered for the Cubs, who have dropped two straight after winning five of six. Dempster (1-3) gave up three hits, three runs, and walked three in an inning, and also had a wild pitch.

Dempster was brought on in the eighth, up 4-2, for a two-inning save, but couldn't even get out of the first inning with the lead. Saltalamacchia doubled off the wall in right, and scored on Scott Thorman's double. Pinch- hitter Willie Harris singled and stole second, and Johnson was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play, but the tying run came across, and Dempster's wild pitch allowed Harris to come home with the go-ahead run.

Tempers flared on both sides in the first inning, but only Lilly was sent packing. After striking out the first two batters of the inning, Lilly threw two balls to Renteria before firing the third pitch high and tight, hitting Renteria's left hand. Homeplate umpire Jim Wolf issued warnings to Lilly and both teams as Renteria started towards the mound, and the benches and bullpens cleared. No punches were thrown on either side, but Wolf apparently changed his mind about merely warning Lilly, and ejected the lefty, much to the surprise of both Lilly and manager Lou Piniella.

The seeds for the incident were planted on Saturday, when Atlanta pitcher Tim Hudson plunked Chicago outfielder Alfonso Soriano in the first inning, an obvious message after Soriano blasted three homers in Friday's game. Hudson, however, was not ejected for his actions.

Renteria appeared to exact his own revenge for the plunking later in the inning, as he followed through on his slide into second on a steal attempt and, though he was tagged out by Fontenot, Renteria clocked the Cubs second baseman with his left arm.

Johnson got the Braves on the board with his eighth longball of the season, a one-out solo blast in the third. Later in the inning, with two outs and runners at first and second, Jeff Francoeur poked a clutch single to left, plating another run.

Fontenot's RBI triple in the fifth got the Cubs one run, and Soriano tied things at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

Barrett gave the Cubs the lead with his ninth homer of the season, a one-out solo shot in the sixth. Fontenot led off the seventh with a long fly ball to left that fell just over the fence and out of the reach of Matt Diaz, for the rookie's first career homer, handing Chicago a two-run lead.

Game Notes

This was Piniella's 3,000th career game as a manager. He is one of 17 major league managers to reach 3,000, and one of four active managers, including Atlanta's Bobby Cox (3,923)...Renteria remained in the game after being hit, but left in the fourth. X-Rays on Renteria's left hand were negative...Atlanta won the season series, 5-4.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

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