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07/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay has had a hard time winning in Cleveland. Hopefully its ace can turn things around, as the Rays send David Price to the mound this evening trying to stop the Cleveland Indians' incredible 18-game home winning streak against them in the second test of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
Cleveland continued its home mastery of the Rays in the opener of this set on Friday, as Fausto Carmona allowed just one unearned run in five strong innings, helping the Tribe to a 3-1 win in a rain-shortened, seven-inning affair.
The winning streak is the longest active stretch by one team over another at a particular stadium, and the Rays haven't won in Cleveland since September 28, 2005.
Carmona (10-7) won for the third straight start by allowing just one hit and one walk while fanning seven for the Indians, who have won seven of eight to begin the second half.
Trevor Crowe had two hits, including a solo homer, while Asdrubal Cabrera recorded three hits in the victory. Tony Sipp notched his first career save for pitching a hitless sixth and seventh.
Jeff Niemann (8-3) yielded two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings to receive the loss for the Rays, who are 3-4 on their nine-game road trip. John Jaso drove in the lone run in defeat.
Price, who is enjoying a breakout season, will look to rebound from his previous outing in which he was hammered by the New York Yankees for seven runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings, dropping him to 12-5, while raising his earned run average to 2.84.
It was the third loss in the last five starts for Price, but it was the first time since May 23rd that the Vanderbilt product surrendered more than three earned runs in a matchup.
The lackluster effort against New York could be due to the long break in between outings, but regardless, the setback dropped Price to just 6-4 in 10 road starts on the year.
Price beat the Indians the last time he faced them, yielding just an unearned run in six innings.
Taking the mound for the Indians will be Mitch Talbot, who has one victory in his last seven starts, and is winless in his last three outings. The last time Talbot was in action the right-hander tossed six strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits in five innings.
The Tribe eventually won that game by a 2-1 margin, but Talbot did not factor in the decision.
Talbot, who is just 3-4 in nine home starts this season with a 5.07 earned run average, will be making his first career start against Tampa.
<< Tigers, Blue Jays try again in Detroit
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miguel Cabrera's primary goal is to help the Detroit Tigers
capture an American League Central title. Still, one would think the
possibility of becoming baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 43 years has
got to cross the Al
<< Pelfrey hopes for a rebound in LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Pelfrey hopes to bounce back from the shortest start
of his career this evening when the New York Mets continue their four-game set
with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Pelfrey could not make it out of the
<< Phils take their swings against Jimenez
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than 24 hours after facing a former Cy Young Award
winner, the Colorado Rockies march out their own 2010 candidate when they face
the Philadelphia Phillies in the second of four games at Citizens Bank Park.
The Philli
<< White Sox try to stay hot in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Detroit and Minnesota nipping at their heels the
Chicago White Sox will try to keep their small lead in the AL Central when
they take on the Oakland Athletics this afternoon at the Coliseum.
One of the biggest reasons
Bumgarner takes aim at fourth straight win at Chase Field >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Madison Bumgarner shoots for his fourth straight win this
evening when the San Francisco Giants continue their four-game set against the
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Bumgarner has been sensational over his winning
Oswalt toes the hill for Astros against Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran right-hander Rot Oswalt makes what could be one of
the last starts of his Houston career tonight when the Astros meet the
Cincinnati Reds in the middle test of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park.
Oswalt, a Hou
Twins send Baker to hill in Baltimore >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Struggling to keep pace with the White Sox and Tigers in
the AL Central, the Twins will try to solve their road woes when Minnesota
battles the Baltimore Orioles in the third installment of a four-game set this
evening at Cam
Red Sox shoot for third straight win against battling M's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox try to make it three straight wins this
evening when they continue their four-game set against the Seattle Mariners at
Safeco Field.
The Red Sox will turn to Jon Lester to keep them in the win column, as
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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NFL betting action is back! At MySportsbook, all of the pro football odds are posted for the NFC North. Check out how we see the four teams in this cloudy division stacking up this year in the chase for the playoffs! Green Bay Packers (+125) - With QB Aaron Rodgers leading the offense and DC Dom Capers working his magic on defense, the Packers are a real force to be reckoned with.
Virtually nothing changed on this offense for Green Bay from last year to this year, save for the addition of rookie OT Brian Bulaga to the bunch. Expect more huge numbers from the Pack, and a relatively favorable schedule should get them over the hump and into the playoffs once again this season. My NFL Betting Predictions: 11-5, 1st place in NFC North Minnesota Vikings (+130) - There are still too many unknowns about the Vikes this year. There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not.
There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
Chicago Bears (+350) - The Bears are probably a bit of an overhyped team once again this year.No, we don't think it is plausible for QB Jay Cutler to have as bad of a season as he did last year, and we do think the additions of RB Chester Taylor and DE Julius Peppers are going to help immensely, but there's still something in the water in the Windy City that we aren't so sure about. Maybe Chicago finds its way to .500... but then again, maybe it doesn't. If Favre comes back, Cutler might be the worst quarterback in this division this year.
Detroit Lions (+1500) - The Lions are probably once again going to be the whipping boys for the rest of the teams in the NFC North, but they aren't just going to roll over and die once again. There is some real talent amassing on this team offensively, as the combination of QB Matt Stafford, RB Jahvid Best, WR Calvin Johnson, and TE Brandon Pettigrew should put a bunch of points on the board if the offensive line can even remotely hold up. The questions really lie on defense, where it feels like DT Ndamukong Suh is going to be trying to stop opposing teams all by himself. This year should show some marked improvement in the Motor City.
The Patriots will make NFL betting fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.
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