Volquez solid in return to mound; Reds rout Rockies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edinson Volquez made a triumphant return to the mound in his first start in more than a year and was backed by four home runs, as the Reds crushed the Rockies, 8-1, at Great American Ball Park.

Volquez (1-0), who last appeared in a major league game on June 1, 2009, struck out nine over six innings, walked two and yielded just three hits. Two of those came in the first inning when Dexter Fowler doubled and Carlos Gonzalez brought in the only Colorado run with a single.

The 27-year-old Volquez had been out because of both Tommy John surgery and a 50-game suspension for a violation of the league's drug policy. It was his first win since May 5, 2009 against the Marlins.

Drew Stubbs smacked two homers and drove in three, while Brandon Phillips cracked a three-run shot. Jonny Gomes had two RBI and added a solo home run as Cincinnati won its second straight in this three-game set.

Jorge De La Rosa (3-2) was rocked for a second straight outing coming off a finger injury that shelved him for more than two months. In 3 1/3 innings, he gave up seven runs -- six earned -- on four hits and five walks as the Rockies fell for a third consecutive game.

After Gonzalez gave Colorado an early advantage, the Reds took over via the longball and never looked back behind a superb comeback from Volquez.

Miguel Cairo walked with one away in the second and Stubbs launched the first of his two home runs to left, putting Cincinnati in front for good.

Gomes provided a sacrifice fly in the next inning and Stubbs belted a solo shot to right-center during a four-run fourth. Ryan Hanigan followed with a walk and Volquez reached on an error in front of Phillips' three-run blast to deep left-center, making it a 7-1 game.

Gomes led off the fifth with a home run off Jhoulys Chacin to extend the margin. Meanwhile, Volquez continued to deal on the other end.

After Gonzalez's RBI hit in the first, the right-handed Dominican surrendered only a stray single to Clint Barmes in the second and walked Jonathan Herrera twice. The last time was to open the sixth, but he quickly recovered with strikeouts of Gonzalez and Brad Hawpe, then got Seth Smith to ground out to complete his outing.

Logan Ondrusek set down the Rockies in order in the seventh and Jordan Smith worked around a two-out single by Herrera in the eighth. Smith returned for the ninth and walked Hawpe to start, but closed out the game by retiring the next three batters.

Game Notes

Volquez lost about $120,000 of his $445,000 salary for the suspension, which was served while he recovered from his elbow injury. In six rehab starts in the minors, Volquez went 4-0 with a 1.45 earned run average. Cairo filled in at third base for Scott Rolen, who was out of the lineup due to illness...De La Rosa served up sevens runs, five of those earned, in 4 1/3 innings in his last outing, versus San Diego on July 9. It was his first start since April 25...The Rockies won all seven games versus the Reds last year...Stubbs upped his home run total to 13 on the year. Phillips also hit his 13th and Gomes his 12th of 2010.

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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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