Big Unit put in charge of cooling off Howard, Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Howard tries to continue his offensive onslaught when the Philadelphia Phillies resume their three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

Howard belted his fourth home run in his last three games in Friday's opener, and Jayson Werth knocked in the winning run as the Phillies pulled out a 6-5 win in 12 innings. Werth ended with three hits, while Shane Victorino was 3- for-6 with a pair of RBI and finished a home run short of the cycle for Philadelphia, which has won three in a row coming off a four-game slide.

The former MVP Howard finished 2-for-5, including his major league-best 28th home run, and has belted nine homers and driven in 19 runs during a career high-tying 14-game hitting streak.

Rudy Seanez (4-3) took the win with a perfect top of the 12th, as he and five other Philadelphia relievers followed Kyle Kendrick's 6 1/3 innings of work, in which the Phils starter allowed four runs on nine hits.

Miguel Montero had a three-hit night for Arizona, while Emilio Bonifacio recorded a pinch-hit two-run double. Hudson, Stephen Drew, Chad Tracy and Alex Romero each had a pair of hits in defeat.

Connor Robertson was credited with the loss, while the D-Backs' Doug Davis took a no-decision in his six-inning start. Davis gave up three runs on five hits and four walks to go with four strikeouts for Arizona, which had won three of four coming in.

Hoping to keep Philadelphia in the win column today will be right-hander Adam Eaton, who is 3-7 with a 5.20 ERA. Eaton fell for the fourth time in his last five starts Monday against the New York Mets, as he was hammered for eight runs (6 earned) and 10 hits in just 2 2/3 innings.

Eaton lost to the D'Backs earlier in the season and is just 3-5 with a 4.23 ERA in 14 starts against them.

Arizona will counter with left-hander Randy Johnson, who won for the first time in nine starts in his last trip to the hill on Sunday. Johnson snapped a six-start losing streak when he allowed a run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings against San Diego, which ran his season record to 5-7 and lowered his ERA to 5.18.

Johnson also struck out 10 to help him pick up career win No. 289, moving him past Tommy John for sole possession of 24th place on the all-time list.

The five-time Cy Young Award winner defeated Eaton and the Phils earlier this year and owns a 10-3 lifetime mark against Philadelphia with a 2.61 ERA in 19 starts.

Arizona has lost three of its five games with the Phillies this season after winning five of the six matchups between the teams a year ago.

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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.