Carlos Zambrano will be looking to pitch the Cubs to a win on Saturday afternoon when he takes to the hill against the division-rival Cards. Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup …
Event of the day . . .
The Cubs have been pulling away from the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central division race, and they’ll get a chance to drop St. Louis farther behind them in the standings with their ace on the mound at home on Saturday afternoon.
Zambrano (12-4, 2.76 ERA) has turned in three strong outings in a row, holding the Marlins, Brewers, and Pirates to a combined three earned runs on 14 hits over 20 innings of work. The Cubs are 7-3 in the righthander’s past 10 starts, and the last time he faced the Cards (July 4) he tossed six shutout innings in a 2-1 Chicago win.
Todd Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.01 ERA) has also been solid in each of his past three outings, allowing just five earned runs over 17 innings versus the Brewers, Braves, and Phillies. However, the Cardinals still went 1-2 in those three games. The righthander faced the Cubs back on July 6, surrendering three earned runs over five innings in a loss.
Non-event of the day . . .
The Buccaneers had the worst record of any division winner in the NFL last season, the Dolphins had the worst record in all of football, and neither team managed to snag Brett Favre from the Packers. Tampa Bay and Miami will meet in preseason action at Dolphin Stadium on Saturday night, with the home team favored by 1.5 points.
Also on the schedule . . .
The Brewers will have Ben Sheets (10-5, 3.14 ERA) on the mound on Saturday when they host Washington and starter Tim Redding (8-6, 4.44 ERA). Other NL games on tap: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, Houston at Cincinnati, Florida at the Mets, San Diego at Colorado, Atlanta at Arizona, and the Dodgers at San Francisco.
The top game in the AL on Saturday is in Chicago, with Jose Contreras (7-6, 4.60 ERA) leading his White Sox against the Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka (12-2, 3.04 ERA). Also on the schedule: Cleveland at Toronto, the Yankees at the Angels, Texas at Baltimore, Oakland at Detroit, Minnesota at Kansas City, and Tampa Bay at Seattle.
The Redskins are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Bills in NFL preseason action at FedExField on Saturday night. The other NFL games for Saturday: Indianapolis at Carolina (-4), Atlanta at Jacksonville (-3.5), St. Louis at Tennessee (-3), Denver at Houston (-3), and Dallas at San Diego (-3).
News from the wire . . .
The Orioles traded relief pitcher Chad Bradford to the Rays . . . the Rangers placed outfielder David Murphy on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained knee . . . The Jets released quarterback Chad Pennington hours after they traded for quarterback Brett Favre . . . Kenny Perry withdrew from the PGA Championship after the opening round because of an eye infection.
Peek at the future . . .
It’s Chris Carpenter (0-0, 1.00 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (12-5, 2.93 ERA) in the Cards/Cubs matchup on Sunday night . . . the PGA Championship wraps up on Sunday afternoon . . . The USA basketball team is a 33-point favorite to beat China on Sunday . . . NASCAR’s Centurion Boats at The Glen begins at 1:00pm ET on Sunday . . . The Bengals and Packers will meet at Lambeau Field on Monday night.
<a href=”http://www.betjmaff.com/aw.aspx?B=67&A=2&Task=Click&SubAffiliateID=n507″ Target=”_Top”><img border=”0″ src=”http://www.betjmaff.com/aw.aspx?B=67&A=2&Task=Get&SubAffiliateID=n507″ alt=”Betjamaica the players paradise” width=”300″ height=”250″></a>
