Big Unit defeats Carpenter, Giants top Cards
Baseball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edgar Renteria went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Randy Johnson won the battle of former Cy Young Award winners, as the Giants pulled out a 6-3 victory over Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals in the second test of a four-game set.
Johnson (8-5) gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to win for the fifth time in his last six decisions. Bengie Molina had two hits and two RBI, and Pablo Sandoval finished 2-for-4 with a run knocked in and two runs scored for San Francisco, which has won five of seven.
Carpenter (5-3), previously 3-0 at home this year, was roughed up for six runs on 11 hits in just five frames for St. Louis, which has dropped six of seven.
As has been the case for much of the season, Albert Pujols provided the Cardinals' offense with two homers and three RBI, finishing the month of June with an eye-popping 14 home runs and 35 RBI.
The Giants got to Carpenter early on with three consecutive one-out singles in the first, the latter from Bengie Molina plating Randy Winn. Nate Schierholtz struck out with runners on the corners, and Renteria singled to left to bring in Sandoval for a quick 2-0 lead.
Sandoval was thrown out at home on a weak grounder to first by Schierholtz in the third, and Pujols hammered a one-out blast that flew by Big Mac Land to make it a 2-1 game in the fourth.
San Fran answered with four runs of its own in the fifth. Aaron Rowand singled, moved to third on Winn's double and scored on a Sandoval base hit to right. Bengie Molina followed with a sacrifice fly, and Schierholtz grounded out before run-scoring hits from Renteria and Travis Ishikawa.
Pujols continued to keep the hosts close by following Chris Duncan's pinch-hit walk in the sixth with his 30th home run of the year, the seventh time the reigning NL MVP has gone deep twice in the same game this season.
Johnson was pulled later in the inning after giving up a one-out triple to Ryan Ludwick and walk to Yadier Molina. Jeremy Affeldt entered and walked Rick Ankiel, though the reliever induced an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Tyler Greene to stem the threat.
Brian Wilson entered in the eighth with two on and two out and got pinch- hitter Skip Schumaker to ground out. In the ninth, the Giants closer worked around a one-out single by Colby Rasmus for his 21st save of the year.
Game Notes
Both teams entered the game with 41 wins...Despite Pujols' prowess during the month, St. Louis finished June with a 12-17 record....Lifetime against the Cardinals, Johnson is 7-7 in 15 starts... Carpenter was 3-0 in five lifetime starts against San Francisco coming in...The Giants have taken six of the past seven meetings in this series...St. Louis was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregor Blanco scored the winning run in the 10th inning as part of a three-hit night, and Martin Prado drove him in as part of a four-RBI evening, as Atlanta used the big bats from two unlikely sources
<< Haren pitches, hits D-Backs past Reds
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Haren threw seven innings of one-run
ball and added a double and solo home run at the plate to help snap the
Diamondbacks' five-game losing streak with a 6-2 decision over the Reds.
Haren (7-
<< Pirates blank Cubs, complete rare winning mark in June
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddy Sanchez doubled and knocked in two
runs, and Ross Ohlendorf tossed seven shutout innings, as the Pittsburgh
Pirates got by the Chicago Cubs, 3-0, in the second of a three-game set at PNC
Park.
<< Flames sign Bouwmeester to multi-year contract
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames' gamble paid dividends on
Tuesday, as the club signed defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a multi-year
contract just hours prior to the start of the NHL free agency period.
Over the wee
<< Boozer, Okur to remain with Jazz
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet
Okur both announced they will remain with the Utah Jazz for the 2009-10
campaign.
Boozer announced he will exercise his player option and remain with the
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets threw the baseball all around the diamond during Milwaukee's four-run fourth frame, and the Brewers beat Johan Santana in a 6-3 victory at Miller Park. Ryan Braun was right in the m
White Sox wash away Lee, Tribe in rain-shortened tilt >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gordon Beckham went 3-for-4 with a solo
homer, two runs batted in, and two runs scored as the Chicago White Sox
pounded the Cleveland Indians, 11-4, in a rain-shortened game called in the
top of
Marlins time comeback over Nationals perfectly >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer and knocked in
four, as the Florida Marlins scored three times in the seventh to edge the
Washington Nationals, 7-5, in a rain-shortened game at Land Shark Stadium in
the mid
Cabrera's hit lifts Yankees over Mariners >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera drove in three runs, including the
go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning, boosting the New York Yankees to
their sixth straight win, 8-5 over Seattle.
Mariano Rivera threw the ceremonial fir
Rangers use longball to halt Angels' win streak at six >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlon Byrd smacked a two-run and three-run
home run as the Texas Rangers hit a total of five homers in a 9-5 win over the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the middle installment of a three-game set
at Rang
FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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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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