Drew, Diamondbacks edge Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Drew hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks held on to beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, in the middle contest of a three-game set at Wrigley Field.

Orlando Hudson went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Chris Young scored twice for the Diamondbacks, who had lost five of six.

Arizona starter Micah Owings lasted just four innings after giving two runs on four hits. Juan Cruz (4-1) took over for Owings and pitched three no-hit innings to pick up the win.

Jose Valverde worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to nail down the victory and pick up his 29th save of the season.

Angel Pagan hit a two-run triple for the Cubs, who had won three in a row and seven of eight.

Rich Hill pitched six innings, yielding two runs -- one earned -- on six hits with six strikeouts and four walks.

Bob Howry (5-5) struck out pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda to start the eighth, but Drew stepped to the plate and smoked a 3-1 pitch over the right-field wall to give Arizona the lead.

Ryan Theriot led off the eighth with a walk, but after Mike Fontenot flied out, the Diamondbacks got out of the inning on an impressive double play by Drew and Hudson.

Aramis Ramirez hit a groundball up the middle and Drew, running away from second, caught up to the ball and backhanded a throw to second. Hudson caught the ball with his bare hand before throwing to first for the twin-killing.

A fielding error by Ramirez in the first inning allowed Arizona to jump out to an early lead. Young led off the game and bounced a groundball to third base that got by Ramirez, allowing Young to reach second.

Young then swiped third before scoring on Hudson's groundout.

Owings struggled with his command in the home half of the first, walking two batters and almost hitting Ramirez with a pitch that was high and inside. Ramirez took exception and approached the mound before cooler heads prevailed.

Chicago then took the lead in the fourth as Jacque Jones led off with a double, DeRosa walked and Pagan cleared the bases with a triple to right field.

Arizona answered right back in the fifth as Young walked, went to third on Hudson's single and scored on Eric Byrnes' groundball.

Game Notes

The Diamondbacks are 14-7 against Chicago since the start of the 2004 season...It was Pagan's second triple of the season...Attendance was 41,632.

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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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