D'Backs overcome Padres in 11

Baseball Betting Lines

08/02/2007 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Byrnes plated the go-ahead run in the 11th and Chad Tracy tacked on a three-run homer, as the Arizona Diamondbacks coughed up a lead late but rebounded to beat the San Diego Padres, 9-5, in the middle portion of a three-game series at Petco Park.

The Padres entered the ninth down 5-1, but rallied to force extra innings. Brandon Lyon started the inning on the mound and yielded back-to-back doubles to Kevin Kouzmanoff and Geoff Blum before being pulled in favor of closer Jose Valverde. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out the first two batters he faced before yielding a run-scoring single to Mike Cameron. Milton Bradley came up next and crushed a fastball over the right-field wall to tie it at 5-5.

The game remained deadlocked until the 11th, when an infield single gave Arizona the lead. Jeff DaVanon started the inning with a double, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Augie Ojeda. Heath Bell (4-3) then struck out Chris Young and issued a walk to Orlando Hudson before Byrnes hit a dribbler to short that moved just slow enough to allow Byrnes to reach first and DaVanon to score. Tracy followed with a three-run homer to make it 9-5.

"We showed a lot of character coming back," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "We didn't give up. We battled against an All-Star closer, got him for four runs, and they did their thing in the 11th."

Micah Owings tossed six quality innings and had an RBI and a run scored at the plate for NL West-leading Arizona, which has won 10 of their last 11. Owings allowed one run on four hits while striking out four, and Valverde (1-3) ended up with the win. Chris Snyder went 2-for-5 with two RBI in a winning effort.

David Wells yielded five runs over 5 1/3 frames for the Padres, who have dropped five of seven.

Padres outfielder Brian Giles exited in the fifth inning with a sprained right ankle. Giles was hurt when his foot hit hard against the wall in right when making a catch on a deep Mark Reynolds fly ball. He remained in the game for another half-inning before being lifted in favor of Scott Hairston.

San Diego opened up the scoring in the fourth, as Cameron hit a leadoff triple and came in on a Bradley groundout in the next sequence.

The Diamondbacks, though, responded with two runs in the fifth to move in front. The first two batters of the inning went down in order, but Carlos Quentin, Owings and Young came up with consecutive doubles from there to give their club a 2-1 edge.

Young came up with a spectacular play to rob Cameron of a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to keep Arizona in front.

The road team then scored three runs in the sixth to build a cushion. With the bases loaded and one out following an intentional walk to Reynolds, Snyder stepped in and hit a single that scored Byrnes and Conor Jackson. DaVanon added a sacrifice fly for a 5-1 Arizona advantage.

"You have to give the Padres credit," Byrnes said. "They were down four runs in the ninth and grinded it out."

Game Notes

Newly-acquired Morgan Ensberg and Rob Mackowiak made their debuts for the Padres as pinch hitters. Both struck out...Wells has been tagged for 19 runs in 12 2/3 innings over his previous three starts...Owings' winless streak now sits at eight games...The Padres and Diamondbacks split a brief two-game set in San Diego on April 18-19. Arizona has taken five of seven against the Padres at home to own a 7-3 edge in the season series...Quentin left with an apparent left hamstring injury.

Mypokerface Baseball Betting News

<< Mariners beat Angels in 12, climb within three of first
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yuniesky Betancourt's RBI single in the 12th gave the Seattle Mariners a 8-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the finale of a three-game set at Safeco Field. Ichiro Suzuki had four of Seattl

<< Cubs beat Phillies on wild pitch to move into first place
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Murton scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs over the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, and into first place in the National League Central

<< Wild pitch lifts Cubs over Phillies
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Murton scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs over the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, and into first place in the National League Central

<< Royals top Twins in 10 on emotional night at Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gordon's two-run homer in the 10th inning gave the Kansas City Royals a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on a somber night at the Metrodome. The Twins postponed Thursday afternoon's game ag

<< Rangers top Indians in extra innings
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Frank Catalanotto scored twice and drove in a pair, as the Texas Rangers plated three runs in the 10th inning to down the Cleveland Indians, 9-6, in the middle of a three-game set at Jacobs Field.

Furyk withdraws from Bridgestone with back injury >>
Akron, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Furyk withdrew from the Bridgestone Invitational before Thursday's first round with a back injury. Furyk was coming off a successful title defense at the Canadian Open last weekend, his first

Door closing quickly in Oakland >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics closed out the month of the July the same way they kicked it off, by losing five of seven games. Overall the A's have lost eight of their last 14 games, bringing their record to a disappointing 51-57 on

Bucs shoot for rare win streak in matinee with Cards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will try for consecutive wins for the first time in almost a month when they wrap up a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon at PNC Park. The Pirates ended a four-game l

Hard-hitting Yanks go for sweep of White Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees are still rolling despite the recent woes of Alex Rodriguez and will shoot for a series sweep of the Chicago White Sox this afternoon in the finale of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. New York

Rejuvanated Braves try for sweep of Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira had an impressive debut for the Atlanta Braves and will try to duplicate his success in this evening's finale of a three-game series with the Houston Astros at Turner Field. Acquired from the Te

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

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.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.