Rodriguez solid as Astros shut down Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez combined with three other pitchers in a three-hit shutout as the Houston Astros blanked the reeling St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0, in the second of three games.

Rodriguez (11-12) gave up two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over seven innings for the Astros, who also blanked the Cardinals by a 3-0 score in the opener on Monday and have won eight of their last 10. Hunter Pence went 2- for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Chris Johnson drove in the other run.

"It's becoming a nice habit to say that our starting pitching did an outstanding job," said Houston manager Brad Mills. "And again, Wandy did a great job again tonight. He's been outstanding for the past two or three months."

Chris Carpenter (14-5) was tagged for three runs -- two earned -- and six hits with two walks and three strikeouts over seven innings for the Cardinals, who have dropped four straight and seven of their last eight.

"Unfortunately it's not going well for us right now," said Carpenter. "We gotta come out tomorrow and do everything we can and try to salvage something from this series."

St. Louis now sits seven games back of Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central as the Reds beat Milwaukee on Tuesday.

St. Louis put runners on first and second with one out in the third, but Colby Rasmus struck out and Albert Pujols flied out to end the inning.

With no score in the fourth, the Astros surged ahead. Michael Bourn reached base to start the inning on a Skip Schumaker error. Angel Sanchez followed with a single and Pence drilled a triple to center to score both runners. Johnson's single later in the frame made it a 3-0 game.

In the seventh, Yadier Molina reached base to start the inning on a Johnson error, but Pedro Feliz struck out, Schumaker hit into a fielder's choice and Brendan Ryan grounded out to end the inning.

With Tim Byrdak on the mound to start the eighth, Aaron Miles drew a leadoff walk. But Wilton Lopez took the mound and set down the next three batters.

Matt Holliday led off with a double off of Brandon Lyon in the ninth and a walk to Schumaker with two outs brought the tying run to the plate, but Lyon struck out Randy Winn to pick up his 10th save of the season.

Game Notes

Molina, who went 0-for-4, had an eight-game hitting streak snapped...Houston has taken nine of 14 games against St. Louis this season...Rodriguez has won his past two starts. He is now 5-11 in 19 games against St. Louis...Carpenter fell to 7-5 in 17 starts against Houston...St. Louis went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base.

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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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