A's Cahill puts unbeaten streak on the line against Orioles

Baseball Betting Lines

07/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics young starter Trevor Cahill is making a case for the American League All-Star team and will try to keep his unbeaten streak intact tonight against the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of a three- game series from Camden Yards.

Cahill is 6-0 with a 2.24 earned run average in his last eight starts with the opposition batting only .198 over that streak. Cahill's run is a career best and he has yet to allow a run in the first inning this season. He previously pitched in Saturday's 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and held them scoreless through 7 2/3 innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts.

The right-hander, whose last loss came on May 16 against the LA Angels of Anaheim, beat the Orioles on the road this season on May 26. Cahill lasted six innings and gave up one run to improve to 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three career starts against Baltimore. In 12 total starts this season, Cahill is 7-2 with a 2.88 earned run average.

Baltimore will send out a young hurler of its own for Thursday's series finale, as Jake Arrieta is slated to make his fifth career start. Arrieta broke out on the scene with consecutive wins, but is 0-1 with a 12.27 earned run average in his last two trips to the hill.

Arrieta did not record a decision versus Washington last Friday, when he gave up six runs -- five earned -- and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings of his team's 7-6 win. Overall, the righty is 2-1 with a 6.20 ERA and 1-0 in two home starts. Arrieta has never faced the Pirates.

The Orioles hope Arrieta can stay unbeaten at home as they try to win their second straight series after beating Oakland, 9-6, in Wednesday's second portion of this three-game set. After the A's took a 6-3 lead with a six-run fourth inning, the homer parade started with Ty Wigginton belting a two-run shot and Luke Scott adding a solo homer in the seventh.

Baltimore then closed out the scoring for a 9-6 advantage thanks to Miguel Tejada's two-run shot in the eighth. Corey Patterson and Adam Jones also went deep and Matt Albers was credited with the win for tossing a scoreless inning of relief. Kevin Millwood started and yielded six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits in six frames for the no-decision.

Alfredo Simon then closed the door in the ninth for his 10th save.

"We're trying to continuously play hard," Jones said. "Play the game we all know. All we can do is leave it on the field. Everybody wants to win, so we're going out there and giving all we got."

After today's game versus the Athletics, Baltimore will hit the road for 10 games against Boston, Detroit and Texas.

Oakland has lost 11 of its last 17 games and had a four-game winning streak come to an end with yesterday's 9-6 loss. Coco Crisp hit a three-run homer during a six-run fourth inning and Mark Ellis finished 3-for-4 with a run scored for the A's, who will visit Cleveland for three games after this set.

"This was a really frustrating loss," Ellis said. "We scored some runs ... When we score runs, we usually win games, and this was a tough one for us. We've got another one tomorrow, and we can still win the series."

Athletics starter Ben Sheets lasted six innings and gave up four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts in the no- decision. Cedrick Bowers was tagged with the loss.

Oakland has won six of nine meetings with Baltimore this season and is 16-4 in the previous 20 contests between the clubs.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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