A-Ram leads Cubs over D'Backs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/07/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aramis Ramirez belted a pair of two-run homers, and the Chicago Cubs secured back-to-back road wins for the first time since late May with a 6-4 decision over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle installment of a three-game series.

Ramirez, who came into Tuesday hitting .178, went deep off starter Barry Enright in the sixth inning and Aaron Heilman in the eighth as the Cubs posted consecutive victories for the first time since June 16-17 vs. Oakland. They hadn't won two in a row on the road since May 22-23 against Texas, which was their last road series triumph.

Kosuke Fukudome hit a solo homer for the Cubs, who moved to 9-2 against National League West competition this season. Chicago is 28-45 against all other foes. Tuesday's result also gave the Cubs their first series win at Chase Field since August 22-24, 2003 when the club won two of three games.

Carlos Silva (9-2) gave up four hits and a pair of runs over six innings to snap a four-start winless skid. He's 5-0 on the road this season. Carlos Marmol pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for his 16th save.

Kelly Johnson homered for the Diamondbacks, who lost their fourth in a row. Enright (1-1) was charged with seven hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings in his second major league appearance.

Stephen Drew's sacrifice fly gave the Diamondbacks an early lead in the second inning, but they failed to add to that despite having runners at the corners and nobody out in the fourth as Mark Reynolds struck out and Adam LaRoche grounded into a double play.

Fukudome homered to right leading off the sixth. Derrek Lee doubled later in the inning and scored on a Ramirez longball to left-center.

Johnson's homer to center in the bottom of the inning had the Diamondbacks within 3-2, but Ryan Theriot singled in Geovany Soto in the seventh. Ramirez then made it 6-2 in the eighth. Tyler Colvin walked to start the inning and Ramirez then crushed a homer to left.

Johnson and Justin Upton singled in runs in the bottom of the eighth, but with two runners on base, Miguel Montero and Reynolds both struck out to keep Chicago ahead.

LaRoche struck out to start the ninth, but made it to first on a wild pitch. Marmol retired the next three batters.

Game Notes

It was Ramirez's first multi-homer game since August 23, 2008 against Washington...The Cubs captured their first series victory since taking two of three games from Oakland June 15-17 at Wrigley Field...Ramirez has 22 multi- homer games in his career.

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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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