Baker's Wrigley return highlights Cubs-Reds opener

Baseball Betting Lines

04/15/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dusty Baker makes his first return trip to Wrigley Field since his four-year stint as manager of the Chicago Cubs tonight, when the new Cincinnati skipper leads the Reds in a three-game series between the National League Central rivals.

Baker led the Cubs to the 2003 NL Central title and within five outs of an appearance in that year's World Series before the club fell to the eventual champion Florida Marlins.

The Cubs posted another winning season in 2004, but stumbled to just 66 wins by his final season in 2006.

Lou Piniella, who managed the Reds to a World Series title in 1990, took over in 2007 and guided the Cubs to another division championship last year.

Ace Aaron Harang starts on the mound for the Reds and looks for his ninth win in his 16th career start against Chicago. He is 8-3 with a 4.44 earned run average in 95 1.3 innings over 15 previous starts versus the Cubs.

In three starts so far in 2008, Harang has allowed 14 hits and five earned runs in 21 innings, picking up a win, a loss and a no decision.

Ex-Red Ryan Dempster starts for Chicago tonight. The 30-year-old native of British Columbia spent part of 2002 and all of 2003 with Cincinnati, going 8-12 in 37 appearances, including 35 starts.

He went to Chicago in 2004 but was limited by injury to just 23 appearances. He returned as the team's closer from 2005-07, posting 85 saves before moving to the starting rotation to begin 2008.

In two starts this season, he's allowed four hits and one earned run in 13 innings, striking out 10 and walking four.

The Reds enter this season after being swept in three games by the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. In Sunday's finale, Jason Bay hit a three-run homer and Ryan Doumit and Xavier Nady added two-run shots as the Pirates routed Cincinnati, 9-1.

Johnny Cueto (1-1) struggled through six innings of work for Cincinnati, giving up five runs on five hits while striking out six and walking a batter.

Ryan Freel went 2-for-5 with an RBI for Cincinnati, which has dropped five of its last seven overall.

The Cubs salvaged the finale of a three-game series in Philadelphia on Sunday. Ronny Cedeno scored the go-ahead run on Chase Utley's throwing error in the top of the 10th inning as the Cubs squeezed past Philadelphia, 6-5. Bank Park.

Cedeno drew a leadoff walk against Rudy Seanez (0-1), then moved to second on Ryan Theriot's sacrifice bunt. Geovany Soto also drew a free pass, and pinch- hitter Carlos Zambrano grounded to short with what looked like a dead double- play ball. But Utley's relay to first hit the dirt and skipped past Ryan Howard, allowing Cedeno to cross the plate.

Utley doubled off the wall in right in Philadelphia's final at-bat, but So Taguchi grounded out to end the game as Bob Howry picked up his first save.

Kerry Wood (1-0) earned the win for the Cubs with two scoreless frames. It backed a mediocre effort by starter Jason Marquis, who lasted through five innings but gave up two runs on four hits while walking five.

Derrek Lee went 3-for-5 and knocked in a pair of runs for Chicago, while Mark DeRosa added a disputed solo homer. The Cubs have won six of their last eight games overall.

These teams split 18 meetings in 2007, with Cincinnati winning five of the nine matchups held at Wrigley Field.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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