Brewers send Sheets to the hill against Astros

Baseball Betting Lines

08/19/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luckily for the Milwaukee Brewers, starting pitcher CC Sabathia has been on point for the National League Wild Card leaders. However, the same can not be said for fellow ace Ben Sheets, who will take the mound in tonight's second test of a three-game series versus the Houston Astros at Miller Park.

Sheets is 1-4 with a 3.60 ERA in seven starts since Sabathia joined the Brewers, and lost his most recent outing on August 14 at San Diego. He was reached for three runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 3-2 setback, falling to 11-6 in 24 trips to the mound this season.

The big righty will take on Houston for the fourth time in 2008. Sheets is 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in his three starts so far, and 12-8 with three complete games in 27 career appearances against the Astros.

Milwaukee, which leads the NL Wild Card by 2 1/2 games over St. Louis, kicked off a six-game homestand with Monday's 9-3 victory over the 'Stros. Sabathia remained unbeaten with the Brewers and notched his fifth complete game since he was acquired from Cleveland on July 7, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on 11 hits with nine strikeouts. He has won a career-high 11 straight decisions since June 10 and improved to 14-8 with a 2.99 earned run average in 27 overall starts this season.

Sabathia helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Ray Durham had three hits and scored a run for the Brewers, who have won two of their last three games and improved to 37-23 as the host this season. They have won five in a row as the host. Corey Hart finished 3-for-4 with a solo homer, two RBI and two runs scored in a winning effort.

Darin Erstad ended with three hits and Reggie Abercrombie belted a homer for Houston, which lost for just the third time in its last 12 games. Ty Wigginton had a solo homer to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games, while Mark Loretta drove in the other Houston run.

Randy Wolf started for Houston and was saddled with the loss after he gave up six runs on five hits in just four innings of work.

Astros starter Brian Moehler will put his current unbeaten streak on the line tonight, as he is 4-0 over the last seven outings. Moehler recently took the hill on August 14 versus San Francisco and did not record a decision in his team's 7-4 victory after yielding four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Moehler is 8-4 in 23 games (18 starts) this season.

The veteran right-hander has lost both of his appearances against the Brewers this season, and is 3-8 with a 4.95 earned run average in 19 career meetings, 10 of which have been starts, in this series.

Milwaukee leads the 2008 season series with the Astros by a 7-6 margin.

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

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 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.