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07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins will try to make things even tighter in the AL Central, as they wrap up a four-game set with the division-leading Chicago White Sox today at Target Field.
After losing the opener of this series, the Twins have bounced back with consecutive victories to pull just 2 1/2 games back of Chicago for the division lead.
On Saturday, Carl Pavano threw his fourth complete game of the season, outdueling Mark Buehrle to lead the Twins to a 3-2 victory.
Pavano (11-6), who had never thrown more than two complete games in a season prior to this year, gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out six.
The right-hander got into trouble in the ninth, which Omar Vizquel began with a double, but retired the next three batters to win his sixth consecutive decision.
Buehrle (8-8), meanwhile, gave up only three runs on nine hits in eight innings, but took the loss. Paul Konerko finished 2-for-4 and drove in both runs for Chicago, which has dropped its last two after a nine-game win streak.
"It was a pitchers' duel out there," Buehrle said. "Obviously Carl's having a great year and throwing the ball well, and I put our team in a deep hole."
The White Sox will turn to Freddy Garcia today for another strong pitching performance. The veteran right-hander has won six straight decisions, and Chicago has come out on top in each of his last eight starts. On July 7th, Garcia allowed one unearned run and five hits over six innings of a 5-2 triumph of the Angels.
Garcia has split two starts against Minnesota this season, capturing a 5-2 win after allowing two runs in seven innings of work at Target Field on May 11th.
Countering for the Twins is Nick Blackburn, who has struggled of late. Loser of two straight, Blackburn is 1-6 with a 10.00 ERA in his last eight appearances. In his last outing on July 10th, the right-hander gave up seven earned runs and four homers in four innings of a 7-4 loss to Detroit.
In 13 career appearances - 12 starts - versus the White Sox, Blackburn is 6-5 with a 3.62 ERA. He, however, had a four-game win streak snapped versus them on April 11th, allowing five earned runs and three homers in 7 2/3 innings of a 5-4 setback.
The Twins went 12-6 versus the White Sox last year, winning seven of nine at home between the teams, and they have won five of eight meetings so far in 2010.
<< Mets send Santana to salvage series with San Francisco
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets ace Johan Santana has allowed only one run
through his last three starts and hopes to continue that stingy trend today in
the finale of a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.
Sa
<< Padres go for another sweep of Arizona
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League West-leading San Diego Padres will
shoot for the second straight three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks
when the two division foes close out their set today at Petco Park.
San Diego has
<< Szavay wins second straight title
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hungary's Agnes Szavay captured her
second consecutive tournament title with a three-set victory over crowd
favorite Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in Sunday's final of
the Pra
<< Marlins aim for series win vs. Nationals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlins right-hander Alex Sanabia makes his fifth trip to a
major-league mound today, seeking to lift Florida to a series win in the
finale of a three-game set with the visiting Washington Nationals at Sun Life
Stadium
Boston's Lester takes mound vs. Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester goes for his seventh straight home win today, as
he leads the Boston Red Sox into the finale of a four-game series with the
Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.
Lester, who tossed a perfect inning in the All-Star
Pitcher's duel on tap between Rays/Yankees >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of All-Star pitchers go head-to-head today, as David
Price and the Tampa Bay Rays conclude a three-game set with Andy Pettitte and
the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
The 24-year-old Price recently earned his
Jays hope to pin another sweep on O's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays gun for their third consecutive
three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles as the teams wrap up their series
today at Camden Yards.
On Saturday, Jose Bautista hit a two-run homer in the t
Indians seek four-game sweep of Tigers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians go for a four-game sweep of the
Detroit Tigers today, as the teams conclude their series at Progressive Field.
Despite being well below .500, the Indians have come out of the All-Star break
with
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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