Zambrano tries to put boo-birds behind him in Steel City

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Zambrano wasn't happy when Cubs fans booed him during his last start. Zambrano and the Chicago faithful will get a breather from each other tonight when the ace makes a road start in the middle portion of the Cubs' three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Zambrano has lost five straight starts, including three in a row since signing a five-year, $91.5 million contract on August 18 with the Cubs. Things reached a low point on Monday when the Venezuelan was rocked for a career-high tying eight runs on seven hits and five walks in just 4 1/3 innings of work.

The right-hander, who fell to 14-12 on the season with a 4.35 earned run average, was then booed by Cubs fans as he exited the field after being pulled, a criticism the fiery hurler resented after the game verbally.

Zambrano apologized to the fans a day later but perhaps a road start will help cure his woes. The righty is 9-4 in 14 starts away from Wrigley Field this season with a 3.56 ERA.

He is 7-6 with a 4.19 ERA in 18 games (16 starts) lifetime against the Pirates, though he has lost both starts against them in 2007.

Zambrano will also try to help the Cubs get back on the winning track as a whole tonight. Chicago lost the opener of this set, 6-1, on Friday, but remained even with Milwaukee at the top of the National League Central standings after the Brewers lost to the Reds yesterday.

The Cardinals, just one game back in the standings, lost to Arizona on Friday as well.

Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee both ended 2-for-4 for Chicago, which has lost four of its last five games. Rich Hill (8-8) gave up six runs on nine hits over six frames for Chicago.

Hill's counterpart, Tom Gorzelanny, was outstanding for the Pirates in the game. Gorzelanny (14-7) surrendered just one run and six hits over seven solid innings.

Jack Wilson homered for the Pirates, who entered the contest having split a four-game series with St. Louis. Ronny Paulino and Nyjer Morgan both notched a pair of hits in the win that came on the day the Pirates fired general manager Dave Littlefield. The club also named Brian Graham interim GM.

Ian Snell will try to build off a solid outing last time out when he takes the hill for the Pirates. Snell hurled seven shutout innings of an 11-0 spanking of the Cardinals on Monday, scattering five hits and five walks while improving to 9-11 with a 4.01 ERA.

The right-hander has made seven appearances in his career against the Cubs, five of them starts, and is just 1-3 with a 5.65 ERA. He is 0-1 in two starts against them this season.

Pittsburgh is 6-4 against the NL Central-rival Cubs this season, with a 4-3 record in the Steel City. The Pirates are 15-10 in the last 25 matchups against Chicago.

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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.