Blake's grand slam propels Dodgers past Rockies

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey Blake's grand slam off Matt Belisle in the eighth inning gave the Dodgers a 6-2 victory over the Rockies in the opener of a three-game series between the National League West foes.

The grand slam was part of a five-run frame that handed Ubaldo Jimenez (17-5) his third straight losing decision.

Los Angeles' top three hitters -- Scott Podsednik, Ryan Theriot and Andre Ethier -- each had two hits and, as did Blake in the club's fourth straight win.

Jonathan Broxton (5-4) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win behind Clayton Kershaw, who allowed a run on five hits and two walks while fanning six in as many innings.

Jimenez, looking for a franchise-record 18th win of the season, was charged with three runs on nine hits and three walks in seven-plus innings for the Rockies, who had their four-game win streak snapped.

Colorado relievers pitched 7 1/3 innings in Wednesday's 12-10 comeback victory over Atlanta, and as a result, manager Jim Tracy opted to extend Jimenez's outing despite the ace throwing 114 pitches heading into the eighth with a 1-0 lead.

Podsednik opened the frame with a single, then swiped second. Theriot worked a walk, and Ethier followed with a two-base gapper to right, tying the game.

Belisle was called in to fan the flames and got Matt Kemp to hit a harmless grounder to short for the first out. James Loney was given a free pass to load the bases in front of Blake, who launched a payoff pitch into the seats in center for his fifth career grand slam and first with LA.

Melvin Mora made it a 5-2 game with an RBI single off Broxton in the bottom half, but the visitors got the run back in the ninth when Kemp's single scored Theriot. Hong-Chih Kuo, who recorded the final out in the eighth, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the win and his sixth save.

Todd Helton's two-out, opposite-field homer in the second accounted for the only run in the first seven frames.

Game Notes

The Dodgers have reportedly placed starting pitcher Ted Lilly and outfielder Manny Ramirez on waivers. The White Sox have apparently been awarded a waiver claim on the latter and have until Tuesday to complete a deal for the slugger...Jimenez took his first loss in 12 home starts this season...Kershaw has allowed just three earned runs in 26 innings against the Rockies this year.

Candustand Baseball Betting News

<< Jets LB Pace sidelined, no timetable for return
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace suffered a foot injury in Friday's preseason game against the Washington Redskins that head coach Rex Ryan said will keep him out of action for "a couple

<< Busch holds off Bodine for Chicagoland truck win
Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch won his fourth consecutive NASCAR national touring series race by taking Friday night's EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway. Busch, who won the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series

<< Carolina Panthers 2010 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's hard to view the Carolina Panthers as anything but a team in limbo, and it's difficult to see 2010 as anything but a way station that precedes the organization's real future. Start with the head coach, John Fox, who i

<< Late TD helps Eagles nip Chiefs
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Kafka threw the game-winning 18-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper with 23 seconds left to lift Philadelphia to a 20-17 come from behind win over Kansas City in preseason action at Arrowhead Stadium

<< Young, Murphy help Texas down Oakland
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Young and David Murphy each knocked in two runs as Texas topped Oakland, 7-3, in the opener of a three-game series. Josh Hamilton added three hits and an RBI while Elvis Andrus and Vladi

Bergesen, Orioles silence Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Bergesen tossed eight solid innings, helping the Baltimore Orioles beat the Angels, 3-1, in the opener of a three- game set. Bergesen (6-9) gave up one run on four hits to win his third str

Enright solid as Diamondbacks shut down Giants >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam LaRoche belted a three-run home run in support of Barry Enright's seven shutout frames as Arizona opened a three- game series with a 6-0 blanking of San Francisco. Enright (5-2) cooled off a red-

Mauer, Baker lead Twins over Mariners >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Mauer had three hits with two RBI and Scott Baker pitched into the seventh inning, as the American League Central- leading Minnesota Twins beat Seattle, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game series

Burris, Calgary continue to roll; Lions drop seventh straight >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris threw two touchdowns and ran in another as he led the Calgary Stampeders to a 48-35 win over the British Columbia Lions at Empire Field. The Stamps (7-1) won for the seventh time in their

Rollins' evasive slide helps Phillies top Padres in extras >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmy Rollins doubled off the right-field wall to open the 12th inning and scored on Placido Polanco's base hit up the middle, lifting the Phillies to a 3-2 win over the Padres in the opener of a three-g

Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts US credit cards

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.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.