05/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League's hottest team during the month of May invades San Francisco's AT&T Park for the opener of a four-game series, as the Houston Astros attempt to keep up their torrid stretch in tonight's matchup with the Giants.
Houston has gone 8-1 so far in May and began its current 10-game road trip in excellent fashion, taking all three meetings with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. The Astros completed the sweep with Sunday's 8-5 victory that was fueled by a six-run eruption in the eighth inning.
Trailing 3-1 heading into the game-changing frame, the Astros strung together five consecutive singles off Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton to move ahead by a run. Brad Ausmus later delivered a two-RBI single that gave Houston a 6-3 advantage.
Hunter Pence finished 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Astros and Miguel Tejada collected a pair of hits along with two runs scored.
Geoff Geary (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless inning in relief of Shawn Chacon, who held the Dodgers to two runs on seven hits over six frames. Jose Valverde only had to record one out for his eighth save.
The Giants also had a successful weekend, with the club winning its final two tests of a three-game home series with Philadelphia. In Sunday's rubber match, Steve Holm's first major league home run lifted San Francisco to a 4-3 comeback victory.
Holm followed a Randy Winn single with a two-run blast off J.C. Romero in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a 3-2 deficit for the Giants, who had lost five straight games prior to Saturday's 8-2 decision over the Phillies.
Jack Taschner (2-0) picked up the win after holding Philadelphia scoreless in the top of the seventh, while Brian Wilson preserved the lead in the ninth to notch his 11th save. The San Francisco bullpen combined to toss 4 2/3 shutout frames after starter Jonathan Sanchez was removed in the fifth.
Barry Zito takes aim at an elusive first victory of the season when he takes the mound for the Giants in tonight's opener. The disappointing left-hander fell to 0-7 this past Wednesday in Pittsburgh, although Zito did pitch reasonably well in his team's 3-1 setback.
The former American League Cy Young winner worked five innings against the Pirates and yielded just two runs on five hits. Zito was making his first start since April 27, having been briefly removed from the rotation due to his struggles.
The quirky veteran won his only career start against Houston with seven innings of one-run ball at AT&T Park on May 23 of last season.
Zito will be opposed tonight by Astros ace Roy Oswalt, who appears to have rebounded from a slow start of his own.
Oswalt lost his first three starts of 2008 and pitched to a 9.00 earned run average over those games. Since then, the hard-throwing righty has gone 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA during a stretch of five outings.
The three-time All-Star struck out a season-best nine batters against Washington on Wednesday, although he wound up with a no decision after surrendering three runs over seven innings.
Oswalt is just 2-5 with a 4.07 ERA in 10 career starts against San Francisco and has not fared well pitching at AT&T Park, where the 30-year-old has compiled a 1-5 record and a 5.30 ERA in seven mound trips.
The Giants won four of their six encounters with Houston last season and have gone 9-3 against the Astros since 2006. San Francisco has taken five of the six matchups held at AT&T Park during that two-year stretch.
<< Red Wings' Franzen out for Game 3
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen is still
experiencing concussion-like symptoms and will not be available to play in
Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Franzen
<< Uggla leads Marlins to sweep of Nationals
Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins will sure be sorry to have to leave Washington. Who can blame them? They've been there twice this season and haven't lost yet.Uggla hit two homers Sunday to help the Marlins complete another three-game sweep of the
<< Red Sox activate Cora
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Red Sox activated infielder Alex Cora
off the 15-day disabled list prior to Sunday's 9-8 loss to the Twins.
Cora, who had been out since April 9 with a sore right elbow, had three hits
and started
<< Twins hold on to beat Red Sox in homer-filled game
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Craig Monroe clubbed a pair of homers and
drove in four runs, and Minnesota held on for a 9-8 victory over the Boston
Red Sox, in the third installment of a four-game series.
Justin Morneau had three
Hernandez tries to continue hot start in finale with Red Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the opportunity to achieve a series win over the
defending world champions, the Minnesota Twins will send out their newfound
ace in tonight's finale of a four-game set with the visiting Boston Red Sox.
Livan Hernandez
Red Wings aim for 3-0 lead as West finals head to Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Detroit Red Wings will try to take a
commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals tonight,
when they visit the Dallas Stars for Game 3 at American Airlines Center.
Detroit has grabbed a
Red-hot Marlins take streak into Cincinnati >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Florida Marlins will try to extend their
season-high winning streak to eight games tonight, when they open a four-game
series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
The NL East-leadin
Cubs try to keep momentum going as Padres pay visit >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs enter a four-game set with a chip on their
shoulders, as they are coming off an impressive sweep of the Arizona
Diamondbacks. Tonight, the club will welcome the San Diego Padres to town for
the ser
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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