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09/07/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins try to put the brakes on a four-game losing streak this evening when they open a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Twins enter this series on the heels of getting swept by the Cleveland Indians, including a 6-2 setback in Wednesday's finale, which all but ended their already slim hopes of capturing a fourth AL Central title in five years.
Torii Hunter and Luis Rodriguez each drove in a run in Wednesday's defeat, while Scott Baker (8-7) got the loss as he gave up three runs on 11 hits in five innings of work for Minnesota, which has dropped eight of its last 10 and is 12 games behind the first-place Indians.
Hoping to get the Twins back in the win column tonight will be righty Carlos Silva, who is 11-13 with a 4.34 ERA. Silva won for the second time in three decisions on Saturday against Kansas City, as he allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings.
Silva has lost three times already to the White Sox this season and is 4-9 lifetime against them with a 5.63 ERA in 17 games, 15 of which have been starts.
Chicago, meanwhile, also enters this series on a sour note after dropping the rubber match of their three-game series with the Detroit Tigers, 3-2, on Thursday at Comerica Park. A.J. Pierzynski was the only player with two hits for the White Sox, who have lost two straight and seven of nine.
Trailing 2-1, Detroit rallied for two runs in the ninth off reliever Bobby Jenks (3-5), as he scattered a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Timo Perez, who reached second on an error by second baseman Danny Richar as his throw sailed into the visitor's dugout.
With two strikes, Mike Rabelo bunted Perez to third and from there pinch- hitter Sean Casey singled home pinch-runner Cameron Maybin for the tying run. Casey also got replaced on the basepaths by Omar Infante, who reached second on Brandon Inge's groundout. Curtis Granderson then got hit by a pitch, and Placido Polanco grounded the game-winning RBI single into the gap in left field.
Getting the ball for the White Sox this evening will be right-hander Javier Vazquez, who has lost his last two starts. Vazquez was defeated by the Indians on Saturday, as he allowed four runs (three earned) and eight hits in six innings to fall to 11-8 on the year, while raising his ERA to 3.91.
Vazquez has beaten Silva and the Twins twice this season and has faced them 11 times in his career, going 3-5 against them with a 4.94 ERA.
Minnesota has won seven of its 12 matchups with the White Sox this season and is 17-14 in the series since the start of last season. These two teams have split six meetings this season in the windy city.
<< Playoff hopeful Tigers and Mariners begin big set in Detroit
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams with playoff aspirations square off this weekend
when the Detroit Tigers welcome the Seattle Mariners to Comerica Park for the
opener of a three-game series.
Both teams enter the critical series three games back
<< Red Sox send Lester to the hill against Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester tries to win his third straight start this
evening when the Boston Red Sox continue their four-game series with the
Baltimore Orioles.
Lester got the best of Baltimore in his last start on Sunday, as he allowed
<< Haren hopes to stop slide in Arlington
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics ace Dan Haren will try to stop a personal
two-game losing streak when he takes the mound tonight in the opener of a
three-game series against AL West-rival Texas at Rangers Ballpark.
Haren is 14-6 with a
<< Mets start nine-game homestand against Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League East-leading New York Mets had their
six-game winning streak stopped this week and will try get back on track when
they open a nine-game homestand with the first of three straight games versus
the Houston
Braves try to carry momentum into series vs. Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After rallying for a big win two days ago, the Atlanta
Braves will hope for an easier time tonight when they begin a three-game
series with the Washington Nationals at Turner Field.
The Braves trailed 8-2 on W
Padres, Rockies to get wild at Coors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies will try to make up ground in the wild
card race this evening when they play the first of three straight games versus
the San Diego Padres at Coors Field.
The Rockies had a three-game winning strea
Reds welcome Brewers to town for three >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off their best offensive
performance of the season. They will try to keep swinging their big bats
tonight in the first of three straight games against the Cincinnati Reds at
Great A
NL West-leading D'backs host upstart Cardinals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks have reclaimed the top spot in the
National League West. Now they will try to stay there, as the club begins a
three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals tonight at Chase Field.
The Diamond
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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