Cardinals cruise behind Carpenter to top flailing Phils

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Carpenter allowed just one run in eight strong innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the struggling Philadelphia Phillies, 7-1, in the second of four games at Busch Stadium.

Carpenter (11-3) yielded just five hits and a walk while fanning four, helping the Cardinals win their seventh straight game. Matt Holliday launched a three- run homer, while Randy Winn added a two-run shot in the victory.

It is the first seven-game win streak for St. Louis since July 7-16, 2006.

Jayson Werth and Placido Polanco each had two hits for the Phillies, who have lost five of six to begin the second half and lost their starting pitcher due to injury. Jamie Moyer pitched only one inning before being removed due to a left elbow strain; the severity of the injury is unclear thus far.

Andrew Carpenter (0-1) relieved Moyer and gave up three runs in three innings to receive the loss.

The Cardinals got to the Phillies rookie hurler in the third, when Felipe Lopez singled leading off and Winn followed with a blast to the right-field seats for a 2-0 lead.

Yadier Molina doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to extend St. Louis' lead, and the hosts broke the game open in the fifth.

Danys Baez came on to pitch for the Phillies and walked both Winn and Albert Pujols before surrendering a three-run homer to Holliday, putting the Cards ahead, 6-0.

St. Louis' Carpenter dominated, allowing only three hits and a walk through the first six innings, but the Phillies finally got on the board via back-to- back doubles from Werth and Shane Victorino in the seventh.

The Phillies, however, did not threaten the rest of the way, and Winn's RBI single in the eighth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

One day after receiving the loss in Monday's series opener, Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick was demoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, prompting the recall of Andrew Carpenter...The Cardinals are 38-21 in games started by Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and Adam Wainwright. Garcia and Wainwright are scheduled to start the final two games of this series...The Phillies have dropped nine of their last 11 road games...The season series is tied, 3-3...Winn, who also homered on Monday, went deep in consecutive games for the first time since September 25-26, 2007.

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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.