O's edge Royals in 11 innings
Baseball Betting Lines
07/29/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ty Wigginton hit two sacrifice fly balls, including the game-winner in the 11th, helping the Baltimore Orioles snap a five-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson both homered for Baltimore, which announced on Thursday that Buck Showalter will take over as manager next week. Brian Roberts went 2-for-6 and scored twice in the win.
Brian Matusz continued his struggles, allowing five runs in 3 1/3 innings, but was spared the losing decision. David Hernandez (5-7) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, and Alfredo Simon earned his 15th save.
Yuniesky Betancourt had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals, who saw their losing streak reach five. Jason Kendall and Rick Ankiel each added two hits in the loss.
Kyle Davies yielded four runs (three earned) in a 5 2/3-inning start, walking four and fanning three.
With Blake Wood (0-2) beginning his second inning of work in the 11th, Cesar Izturis worked a leadoff walk and moved to third on Roberts' single to right.
Markakis sent a ground ball to second, but Mike Aviles was able to throw out Izturis trying to score. Izturis remained in a rundown long enough for Roberts to gain third base, and he scored on Wigginton's deep fly ball to left.
Simon came on to save the game, but yielded a leadoff single to Aviles, who was quickly erased on Ankiel's double play groundout. Betancourt kept the game alive with a base hit, but Alex Gordon lined out to first to end the game.
The Orioles scored single runs in each of the first three innings to build a lead.
Roberts led off the game with a double and later scored on Wigginton's sacrifice fly in the first, and Izturis' RBI fielder's choice groundout doubled the lead in the second.
Markakis led off the third with a homer before the Royals stormed back with five runs in the fourth.
Matusz quickly allowed the bases to become loaded on a pair of walks and a double to start the inning, and he issued another walk to Wilson Betemit to force home KC's first run. Aviles followed with a sacrifice fly before Ankiel's single again loaded the bases.
Mark Hendrickson came in from the bullpen to protect the 3-2 lead, but Betancourt greeted him with an RBI single. Betemit also scored on the play on an error in the outfield, and Gordon followed with another run-scoring hit for a 5-3 contest.
Baltimore, though, came back to tie the game.
In the sixth, Felix Pie walked with one away and moved to third on an error by Betancourt. Patterson followed with an RBI fielder's choice groundout to cut the Orioles' deficit to one.
Patterson evened the contest in the eighth with a two-out solo blast off Robinson Tejeda.
Game Notes
The Orioles also made a roster shakeup on Thursday, trading third baseman Miguel Tejada to San Diego in exchange for a minor league pitcher...The Orioles lead the season series, 2-1...Kansas City had won each of Davies' last four outings...Showalter will take over on Monday and manage his first game on Tuesday.
Stanford, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marion Bartoli and Maria Sharapova were both second-round winners in Thursday's action at the $700,000 Bank of the West Classic tennis event. The fourth-seeded and defending champion Bartoli notched a
<< Vaughan leads Senior Open by two
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bruce Vaughan carded a four-under 66 Thursday
to grab a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the U.S. Senior Open
Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
Vaughan's lone win on the Champions Tour was
<< Young, Teagarden help Rangers beat A's
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Young finished 4-for-4 with three
runs scored, and Taylor Teagarden hit a two-run homer, as the Texas Rangers
defeated the Oakland Athletics, 7-4, in the rubber match of a three-game
series.
<< A-Rod homereless but still helps Yanks crush Tribe in Cleveland
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez didn't hit his 600th career
home run, but drove in three runs while both Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson
added two RBI as the New York Yankees used a late burst of offense to down
Clevela
<< Eagles sign top pick DE Graham
Bethlehem, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Eagles have inked top pick
defensive end Brandon Graham to a five-year contract.
He is expected to be available for the team's afternoon practice on Friday.
Financial terms were not disc
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ramon Castro homered twice and Juan Pierre stroked a two-run double, as the Chicago White Sox beat Seattle, 9-5, to sweep a four-game series and extend their home winning streak to 11 games. Paul Konerko
Report: Saints sign first-round pick Robinson >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints have reportedly
signed rookie cornerback Patrick Robinson to a five-year contract.
According to the Times-Picayune, Robinson is expected to report to training
camp on Friday o
Murray needs three sets to advance in Los Angeles >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Murray notched a three-set victory
to advance to the quarterfinals at the $700,000 Farmers Classic tennis event.
Murray, the top seed, defeated American Tim Smyczek 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, in just
under
AP source: Masoli invited to visit Ole Miss >>
A person familiar with the situation says Mississippi coach Houston Nutt has invited former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to visit campus this weekend.Masoli is expected to decide by Friday morning whether he'll visit Oxford. The person spoke t
AP source: Masoli invited to Ole Miss this weekend >>
Mississippi coach Houston Nutt has invited former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to visit the school this weekend, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday.Masoli is expected to decide by Friday morning whether he
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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