Ankiel helps Cardinals top Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

04/21/2009 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Ankiel finished with three hits and doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, as the St. Louis Cardinals bested the New York Mets, 6-4, in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Yadier Molina also had three hits while Albert Pujols doubled in a pair for St. Louis, which had lost two of three to the Cubs in a rain-shortened series over the weekend.

Jason Motte (1-1) recorded the final two outs in the eighth to pick up the win, and Ryan Franklin set down New York in order in the ninth for his third save of the season.

Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright each had two hits and an RBI in the loss, which was credited to J.J. Putz (1-1) for his one-inning, two-run relief effort. The Mets were coming off a 3-3 homestand, their first at Citi Field.

Neither starter factored into the decision, with St. Louis' Todd Wellemeyer lasting five innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits, and New York's Oliver Perez surrendering four runs on six hits and five walks in 4 2/3 frames.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.