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09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - At seven games off the pace in the American League West Division, time is running out on the Oakland Athletics and their hopes for a postseason berth. The A's will try to get a winning streak going tonight in the finale of a three-game series versus the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum.
After beating Seattle in Monday's series opener, the A's dropped a 7-5 decision last night behind starting pitcher Dallas Braden. The left-hander was torched for six runs and nine hits in five innings to absorb the loss.
"It's big, just as far as perseverance is concerned. There's an old saying, 'Try hard and work hard, even when no one is looking,'" Braden said of the team battling back. "I think that flows over into what we're doing."
Kurt Suzuki and Coco Crisp both had two RBI, while Steven Tolleson finished with three hits for the A's, who have lost six of nine games and hope that first-place Texas continues to falter down the stretch. The Rangers have lost five straight.
The Athletics are 3-2 on a nine-game homestand and will send Gio Gonzalez to the hill Wednesday night. Gonzalez has won three straight starts and is 6-2 with a 2.05 earned run average in his last 10 starts. He threw six shutout innings and allowed four hits in an 8-0 triumph over the Angels last Friday, improving to 13-8 in 28 starts to go along with a 3.12 ERA.
Gonzalez is 1-0 in two starts against Seattle this season and 2-1 in seven career games, five of which have been starts, in this series.
Seattle has alternated wins and losses over its last six games and ended a six-game slide by the Bay with Tuesday's win. It set the tone with five runs in the second inning and got a home run from Adam Moore.
"We talked about putting ourselves in good offensive situations," said Mariners interim manager Daren Brown. "I thought we were able to string some hits together in the five-run inning, and I know that's something we haven't seen a lot since I've been here, but it was good to see it tonight."
Moore and Casey Kotchman both ended with two RBI, while Ichiro Suzuki recorded a pair of hits and knocked in a run for the Mariners, who got five innings of two-run ball out of winning starter Doug Fister. David Aardsma later posted his 29th save by getting the final out of the game.
Ichiro is riding a nine-game hitting streak in which he owns seven multi-hit performances.
Taking the mound for the Mariners this evening will be Luke French, who has won back-to-back and four of his last six starts. French pitched seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Friday's 1-0 win over Cleveland to even his 2010 mark at 4-4 in 11 games (8 starts) this season.
The left-hander recently lost to Oakland on August 11 and is 1-2 with a 5.89 earned run average in five career games (3 starts) against the Athletics.
Oakland has won six of eight meetings with the Mariners held at the Coliseum this season, as well as eight of 14 overall matchups between the two clubs.
<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 8th
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
QUARTERFINALS
Spain vs. Serbia, 11 a.m.
Slovenia vs. Turkey, 2 p.m.
<< Big-time programs square off huge Week 2 matchups
JoePa visits the Bear's house. The 'Canes blow into the Horseshoe for a rematch of the 2002 national championship game. Florida State's first big game post-Bowden takes place in Norman, Okla., a rematch of the 2000 national title game.The second wee
<< Youth movement makes Panthers NFL's youngest team
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The Carolina Panthers weren't fooling around when they started their youth movement. It's produced the NFL's youngest roster.According to STATS LLC, Carolina's average age of 25 years, 233 days is the most youthful in the leag
<< Before Ohio State trip, Shannon takes a field trip
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -When No. 12 Miami visits No. 2 Ohio State in a long-hyped matchup this Saturday, the Hurricanes know they won't see many friendly faces in the stands.Maybe that's why Miami coach Randy Shannon surrounded himself with a ro
Familiar foes do battle in Winnipeg >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second time in as many weeks the
Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers find themselves pitted
against each other on the gridiron, this time at Canad Inns Stadium on Sunday
afternoon.
Lions seek second straight upset in clash with Argos >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a huge upset win against the
Montreal Alouettes, the British Columbia Lions shoot for back-to-back
victories for the first time in 2010 as they entertain the Toronto Argonauts
on Saturday afternoon at
Stampeders and Eskimos meet for second time this week >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Friday night brings out the best and the worst
in the Canadian Football League as the slumping Edmonton Eskimos entertain the
high-flying Calgary Stampeders in a Western Division showdown at Commonwealth
Stadium.
Mets to wrap up long trip with matinee against Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Apparently, winning four straight games just isn't the
Washington Nationals' thing.
After failing to win more than three games in a row for the seventh time this
season, Washington instead seeks a series victory over the N
Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds
Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.
The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.
Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.
MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)
Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)
Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.
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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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