Brewers top Giants; Bonds sits

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2007 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun homered and drove in three runs, as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, in the conclusion of a three-game series at Miller Park.

Barry Bonds, sitting two home runs shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record at 753, got the day off. He now has a good chance to break the record at home, as the Giants play the next seven games at AT&T Park, starting with a four-game set with Aaron's Braves.

Corey Hart hit a two-run homer and J.J. Hardy knocked in two for Milwaukee, which avoided the sweep. Claudio Vargas (8-2) allowed three runs on five hits over six innings in a winning effort.

Opposing starter Barry Zito (7-10) yielded seven runs in 5 1/3 innings of work for the Giants, who have lost eight of 11. Omar Vizquel finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, and Pedro Feliz homered.

A pair of homers in the first staked the Brewers to a 4-0 lead. Rickie Weeks doubled to lead off the inning, and was driven in a batter later when Braun belted Zito's offering over the wall in left-center.

"We haven't played as well as we would like to the last couple of days," Braun said. "It was nice to get the momentum early, and to get a couple more runs and hang on to win."

The sequence repeated itself, as Prince Fielder followed with a double before Hart stepped in a batter later and hit his 14th homer of the year.

The Giants got on the board in the third thanks to a defensive miscue. Vizquel's hit was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Dave Roberts to score all the way from first with two outs.

Roberts and Vizquel added RBI singles in the fifth to slice the Brewers lead to 4-3.

Milwaukee, though, responded with three runs in the sixth to reclaim command. With the bases loaded and two out, Hardy singled to center to bring a pair home. Braun followed with a base hit that scored Craig Counsell for a 7-3 advantage.

"I tried to hold them down, and give the team a chance to win," Zito said. "A couple hits in the sixth was the difference."

Feliz's leadoff homer in the seventh made it a three-run game, and Aurilia's RBI groundout in the eighth brought the Giants within two. Francisco Cordero shut the door in the ninth, however, for his 31st save of the season.

Game Notes

With the long ball, Braun became the fastest Brewer in team history to reach 15 homers -- needing just 50 at-bats...Hart entered the game in a 1-for-19 skid...Attendance was 42,554.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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