Brewers, Rockies get 2010 season underway at Miller Park

Baseball Betting Lines

04/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies certainly had a fantastic finish to the 2009 regular season. Last year's postseason participants now hope to get their 2010 campaign off to a good start when they head to Milwaukee's Miller Park this afternoon for an Opening Day battle with the Brewers.

Colorado hardly resembled a playoff team during the early stages of 2009, as the club dropped 11 of its first 16 contests and had a poor 18-28 record after being swept at home by division-rival Los Angeles in a three-game series between May 25-27. Manager Clint Hurdle was fired following the final loss and replaced on a then-interim basis by bench coach Jim Tracy.

The Rockies took off like gangbusters following the switch, amassing an National League-best 74-42 mark under Tracy's direction and claiming their second league Wild Card berth in three seasons. And despite losing in four games to the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies in last October's NL Division Series, Colorado's sensational second half laid the foundation for what the team hopes will result in even greater achievements in 2010.

Colorado returns just about every regular from last year's 92-70 squad, and although 15-game winner Jason Marquis must be replaced, the Rockies will get back a pitcher who went 17-9 for them in 2007 in Jeff Francis. The left-hander missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

The Rockies won't have their best reliever for the start of this season, however, as valued closer Huston Street will miss at least the first month after experiencing shoulder soreness in the spring.

Getting the call for Colorado in the opener will be Ubaldo Jimenez, who looks to build off a very strong 2009 season. The talented righty won a career-best 15 games a year ago while ranking sixth among NL hurlers with 198 strikeouts and limiting opposing hitters to a .229 average.

None of Jimenez's 33 starts in 2009 came against Milwaukee, but the hard- throwing Dominican is 1-0 with a 2.77 earned run average in two lifetime matchups with the Brewers. That victory came at Miller Park on July 7, 2008, with Jimenez firing seven shutout innings that night.

Milwaukee made a number of changes upon finishing last season with a disappointing 80-82 mark, one year after the club won 90 games and made the playoffs as a Wild Card. The Brewers brought in veteran pitchers Randy Wolf and Doug Davis to beef up a rotation that was one of the NL's worst in 2009, while shortstop J.J. Hardy was traded to Minnesota in a deal that landed speedy center fielder Carlos Gomez from the Twins. The well-traveled Gregg Zaun was also signed to serve as the starting catcher and add provide some experienced leadership to a young core.

One of those promising youngsters is pitcher Yovani Gallardo, who draws his first-ever Opening Day assignment this afternoon. The 24-year-old earned that honor by posting a deceiving 13-12 record with a 3.73 ERA and racking up 204 strikeouts, fifth-best in the NL, in his first full season in the majors.

Gallardo was particularly effective in home games last year, going 8-6 with a 3.14 ERA in 16 Miller Park starts. Opponents hit just .213 against him over that stretch.

The right-hander allowed two runs and just three hits over five innings of a tough-luck home loss to the Rockies last June and is 0-2 with a 9.49 ERA over two starts and one relief appearance lifetime against Colorado.

Milwaukee will be attempting to better last year's results in this series, with the Rockies taking all six meetings and producing a three-game sweep at Miller Park from June 9-11. Colorado has gone 12-3 over its last 15 overall encounters with the Brew Crew.

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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.