Braves aim to bounce back against Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose any ground in the competitive National League East Division. Tonight they have a good shot at bouncing back with Tim Hudson on the mound in the third test of a four-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers at Turner Field.

After taking the opener of this series by a 2-1 score on Thursday, the Braves dropped a 9-3 decision last night and starter Tommy Hanson was roughed up for four runs -- three earned -- in five innings to suffer the loss. Kenshin Kawakami did no better by allowing three runs in an inning of work.

"When you don't pitch and you don't play defense and you don't get any timely hits, that's a good formula for getting taken out behind the woodshed," Braves veteran Chipper Jones said.

Troy Glaus and Brain McCann both knocked in a run and Jones ended 0-for-3 for the Braves, who still lead the NL East by five games over New York and 5 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia. The Mets and Phils lost on Friday.

Atlanta lost for just the second time in seven tries and hopes Hudson can pitch the ballclub back into the win column. Hudson, who has alternated wins and losses over his previous seven decisions, pitched seven shutout innings in last Saturday's 4-0 road victory against the Mets.

Hudson allowed four hits, struck out three and issued a pair of walks to improve to 9-4 in 18 starts and lower his ERA to 2.30. He will try to remain dominant at home, as he sports a 5-2 record in seven trips to the Turner Field mound. Hudson will also face Milwaukee for a second time in 2010 and beat the Brewers back on May 11 at Miller Park, hurling six innings of one-run ball in an 11-3 rout.

The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.98 earned run average in seven career starts against the Brewers.

Milwaukee won for the fourth time in five tries with its six-run victory over the Braves and got a decent performance from starter Randy Wolf. The southpaw held the Braves to three runs and seven hits in six innings, while Todd Coffey, Zach Braddock, Kameron Loe and Trevor Hoffman went the rest of the way to preserve the win.

"I think I've only had a few good games in this stadium, but I felt pretty good today," Wolf said. "You have to have a good day to really pitch well here. It's gratifying to pitch well against a good team, especially knowing my history of definitely not being Cy Young in this stadium."

Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer, Prince Fielder knocked in a pair of runs and both Casey McGehee and Carlos Gomez recorded three hits for the Brewers, who are nine games off the pace in the NL Central and will also visit Pittsburgh for four contests on the trek.

Brewers starter Chris Narveson hopes his first career appearance against Atlanta goes better than he has fared lately. He'll take the hill tonight and is 7-6 with a 6.02 ERA in 23 games, 14 of which have been starts, this season.

Since winning two straight and three of four decisions, Narveson has dropped consecutive trips to the hill and is coming off a nightmare performance on July 7 in a 15-2 setback versus San Francisco. He was reached for 10 runs -- nine earned -- and nine hits through 3 1/3 innings.

The left-hander is 4-3 in 12 games (7 starts) as the guest in 2010.

The Braves had won five straight and seven of their last eight versus the Brewers before last night's game.

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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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