Angels' Pineiro faces former club in St. Louis

Baseball Betting Lines

05/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year, Joel Pineiro was lucky enough to have Albert Pujols on his side. Now a member of the Angels, he'll have to figure out a way to shut his former teammate down.

Pineiro faces his former club this evening when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim visit Busch Stadium to start up a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pineiro joined the Cardinals during the 2007 season and went 28-23 with a 4.14 earned run average in 69 career games with St. Louis. In 32 starts with the club last year, he went 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA. The 31-year-old is 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in two career starts against his former club, but 13-8 with a 3.29 ERA in 29 games at Busch Stadium, all but one of those starts.

He faces St. Louis tonight one start after picking up the sixth shutout of his career on Sunday that snapped a four-start winless stretch (0-3). Pineiro held the Athletics to just four hits in the complete-game effort, needing just 98 pitches to finish off Oakland and improve to 3-4 with a 3.71 ERA this season.

"I was able to get groundball outs. I was getting ahead and keeping the ball down. I had great defense behind me," said Pineiro, who helped St. Louis post a 2.77 ERA versus the American League last year.

Pujols is just 1-for-7 all-time versus Pineiro, but he tormented the AL last year while helping the Cardinals to a 9-6 mark in interleague play. Pujols led all players with nine homers in interleague play, was second with 19 runs batted in and third with a .409 batting average. His .355 career average in interleague play is the highest all-time.

Not only will Pineiro have to deal with Pujols, but he'll also be staring opposite of the man who was signed to replace him in the rotation, Brad Penny. Penny will be looking to halt a four-start slide tonight after beginning the season 3-0 with a 0.94 ERA.

Penny, who will turn 32 on Monday, has a 4.88 ERA over his losing streak and is coming off his worst outing in a St. Louis uniform on Sunday versus the Reds. He gave up season highs of seven runs and 13 hits while turning in his shortest start of the year, a five-inning effort.

"I felt good, I just made too many mistakes," Penny told St. Louis' website. "And mixed with the bad luck, it wasn't good. I've got to do a better job of keeping my team in the game. A couple hits that were just placed perfect, on top of the bad pitches I made. They just took advantage of everything."

The right-hander is 3-4 with a 2.73 ERA on the year and 2-3 with a 5.02 ERA in seven career starts versus the Angels. Penny has also made 27 appearances in interleague games, 26 of those starts, and is 8-12 with a 4.82 ERA.

Penny will try to keep the Cardinals on track tonight after they defeated a the Marlins, 4-2, on Thursday for their third win in four games. The victory also put them a half-game ahead of the Reds for first place in the NL Central.

Matt Holliday hit a two-run double in the second inning and Adam Wainwright gave up two runs over seven innings of work with eight strikeouts.

"It feels good to help the team win," Holliday said. "Any time you can help the team it's a gratifying feeling."

The Angels are also coming off a winning note, as they knocked off the White Sox on Thursday, 6-5. Juan Rivera hit a two-run homer and Kendry Morales drove in a pair of runs with three hits in helping Los Angeles take both games from Chicago and win for the fifth time in seven games.

"I don't know if you call a two-game series a sweep, but we did some things well this series," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Ervin Santana gave up just one unearned run over seven innings, but after the bullpen allowed four runs in the eighth inning, Brian Fuentes calmed things down in the ninth inning for his sixth save.

Fuentes was among the league leaders last year with six saves, helping the Angels go a major-league best 14-4 versus the NL.

The Angels are 128-102 all-time versus the NL, while the Cardinals hold a 100-90 ledger versus the Junior Circuit.

These two clubs haven't met since 2007, when the Angels took two of three in St. Louis.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.