Deadline Acquisition Wolf, Astros vs. Dempster, Cubs

The losing streak has now reached four for the Chicago Cubs after they fell by a 9-7 final count to the Houston Astros in extra innings of last night’s MLB online betting affair. The offense finally woke up after managing to score more than five runs for just the second time in six games, but the combined work of Carlos Zambrano and Bob Howry was simply atrocious.

Most troubling though is the fact that “Big Z” left the game in the fifth after only throwing 86 pitches allowing five hits and three runs and never seeing his velocity reach the 90 mph plateau. "He told our pitching coach he wasn't feeling good," Piniella said. "It has to be in his arm.

I just don't know. We'll let you know tomorrow when we find out." This news couldn’t come at a worse time for the slumping Cubs who will be skipping Rich Hardens’ turn in the rotation as a precautionary measure.

With the gut wrenching defeat now a thing of the past, the Cubbies still find themselves atop the NL Central by 4.5-games over Milwaukee who lost for the second straight day against the NY Mets. They don’t own the best home record in all of baseball anymore, but their 51-23 mark has made MLB bettors upwards of $1200 going into tonight’s series finale with the Astros.

Speaking of the Astros, they’re hot, no, they’re on fire after securing their seventh win in a row and 29th in their L/42 tries since the All Star break. They’ve been a tremendous MLB wager throughout their L/10 games that’s seen them haul in a whopping $775 for the MLB wagering public.

It’s shocking that this club sits 12-games off the pace in the NL Central considering how well they’ve played throughout the last month and a half, but they do have a punchers chance in the Wild Card race now just 7.5-games back with 23 games left on the docket.

Houston holds an 8-6 season series advantage against Chicago, and could at the least guarantee themselves a tie if they were to complete the sweep this evening with their final meeting of the season scheduled nine days from now in Houston.

Toeing the bump for Houston for the eighth time this season will be lefty Randy Wolf who took a no decision his last time out in the Astros 3-2 home victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He threw six innings of one-run ball in that contest, and led the charge to Houston’s victory for the sixth time in seven tries for his new club.

It was a nice bounce back effort for the southpaw who had been beaten up by the Mets and Brewers in his two previous starts. The Astros are 3-1 in his four road starts since coming over from the Padres, and he says he is the strongest he’s felt in years. That said; he’s been bludgeoned by the Chicago Cubs going 2-6 with a 4.98 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 13 career starts.

The Cubs would be hard pressed to be where they’re at right now if not for the heroics of Ryan Dempster in 2008. The guy has been a godsend to the rotation easily making the transition from closer to full time starter. He’s 15-5 on the year sporting a stingy 2.95 ERA and 1.19 WHIP allowing just 142 hits and 65 runs (58 earned) with a K:B ratio of 160:69 in 176+ total innings of work.