Morton hurls Pirates to second-straight win over Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlie Morton threw six-plus effective innings for his first win of 2010 and Garrett Jones drove in two runs in Pittsburgh's 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Ryan Church homered for a second consecutive night for the Pirates, who will go for the three-game sweep Thursday night with Brian Burres on the mound.

Morton (1-5) was charged with five hits and two runs. The right-hander also had three strikeouts in a controlled effort as he didn't walk a batter. Despite this, his ERA stands at 10.30 this season.

Ted Lilly (1-2) was charged with nine hits and four runs over six frames for the Cubs, who entered this series with three straight wins over Arizona.

Aramis Ramirez and Mike Fontenot each drove in a run for Chicago.

Bobby Crosby doubled leading off the bottom of the first, Andrew McCutchen laced a one-out base hit and Jones followed with an RBI line single to right.

Pittsburgh made it 3-0 in the third thanks to three straight doubles to start the inning - by Andy LaRoche, McCutchen and Jones.

The Cubs got within 3-2 in the fourth, but couldn't capitalize on an opportunity to tie the game. Derrek Lee, Marlon Byrd and Alfonso Soriano singled with one out to load the bases. Ramirez then lifted a sacrifice fly to right and Fontenot singled down the left field line, off the protruding stands. But Koyie Hill bounced into a force play to end the inning.

Church homered to right with one out in the sixth.

Morton locked in by retiring seven straight Chicago batters until Ramirez singled to left to start the seventh. Evan Meek entered an immediately got Fontenot to ground into a double play.

Joel Hanrahan struck out two batters in a perfect eighth frame for the Pirates and Octavio Dotel came on for the ninth to get his fifth save of the year. Byrd was hit by a pitch with one out, but Soriano, who homered in his previous three games, then struck out. Ramirez fanned to end the game.

Game Notes

The Pirates have scored at least one run in the first inning in six of the last seven games...The Cubs will start Randy Wells in the series finale...Chicago shortstop Ryan Theriot went 0-for-4 and had his hitting streak snapped at 13 games.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.