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06/04/2008 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Jones went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in to lead the Baltimore Orioles past the Minnesota Twins, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game set from the Metrodome.
Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora each hit solo home runs for the Orioles, who have won two in a row on the heels of a four-game skid. Brian Roberts had a double, a triple and an RBI in the win.
Radhames Liz (1-0) got the win as he gave up two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. George Sherrill earned his 19th save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
"He (Liz) threw strikes and was effective," Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer said. "When you only face a guy one time, it's hard. He's got good stuff, electric stuff."
Joe Mauer had a double and an RBI for the Twins, who saw their two-game win streak halted. Alexi Casilla had an RBI double and Brendan Harris added an RBI single in defeat.
Kevin Slowey (2-5) absorbed the loss as he was touched for four runs on seven hits in six innings.
The Orioles went up 2-0 in the second. Millar began the frame with a homer to left. Luke Scott followed with a single and held at third on Ramon Hernandez's double. A Jones sac fly then plated Scott.
Jones connected on a one-out single in the fifth and a Roberts triple brought him around for the 3-0 Baltimore lead.
The Twins managed one hit, a Justin Morneau single in the fourth, through the first five innings.
Mora added a solo homer in the sixth, which put the O's up 4-0.
The Twins got on the board in the sixth. Carlos Gomez blasted a one-out, ground-rule double to left-center and Casilla followed with an RBI double. Not to be outdone, Mauer kept it going with yet another RBI double.
Matt Albers was called in from the bullpen and got Morneau to pop out and Cuddyer went down swinging to end the threat, though Minnesota cut its deficit in half to 4-2.
Hernandez led-off the seventh with a double off Juan Rincon and took third base on a wild pitch. Jones hit a single up the middle to score Hernandez and Baltimore was ahead 5-2.
Minnesota added another run in the seventh. Jason Kubel and Mike Lamb worked walks and Harris finagled an RBI single to center.
Sherrill took over on the hill in the home ninth and got Matt Macri to pop out, Harris to go down looking and Gomez to fly out to seal the deal.
"I'm surprised it's as many as it is," Sherrill said of his saves. "I thought we were better than everyone thought. That's why you play the games."
Game Notes
Tuesday marked Steve Trachsel's turn in the rotation, but the right-hander was used for five innings in relief on Sunday after having his start in the rotation skipped over due to his 2-5 record and now 8.15 ERA. Instead, the Orioles shifted the ineffective Trachsel to the bullpen for now while giving a start to prospect Liz. Liz, recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Monday, went 0-2 with a 6.93 ERA in nine games (4 starts) last year with Baltimore...Time of game was 2:56...Attendance was 18,802.
<< Rox activate Speier from disabled list
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies activated pitcher
Ryan Speier from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday.
Speier missed 20 games with a bruised right shoulder. He was hurt on May 11
when he was struck by a line
<< Joba shaky in first start as Blue Jays batter Yankees
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rod Barajas hit two doubles and finished with
two runs batted in, and the Blue Jays spoiled the starting debut of New York's
Joba Chamberlain with a 9-3 victory over the Yankees in the opener of a three-
game se
<< Revived Dynamo, United clash at RFK
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo return to RFK Stadium on
Wednesday night for the first time since capturing their second straight Major
League Soccer Cup.
The Dynamo, who have rebounded from a six-match winless skid t
<< Johnson moves to second all-time in strikeouts, but loses to Brewers
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun launched the towering go-ahead
home run in the sixth inning off Randy Johnson and the Milwaukee Brewers
ruined the Big Unit's historic night, taking the middle contest of a three-
game se
Rangers batter Tribe with 16 hits, five homers >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Murphy finished with four hits,
including one of Texas' five home runs, as the Rangers topped Cleveland, 12-7,
in another slugfest, the second contest of a four-game set.
In Monday's series ope
Drew and Red Sox down Tampa in AL East battle >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.D. Drew hit a double and home run, and made
several key defensive plays, as the Boston Red Sox opened a three-game set
against Tampa Bay with a 7-4 win over the Rays.
The Red Sox officially placed slug
Nationals lefty Perez to miss a start >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals left-hander Odalis
Perez will miss a turn in the rotation due tendenitis in his left shoulder.
Perez, who is 2-5 with a 4.09 earned run average this season, was the losing
pitcher
Pedro triumphant in return; Mets hold on to top Giants >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pedro Martinez threw six innings in his
long-awaited return from the disabled list, and the Mets gave the three-time
Cy Young Award winner plenty of support with an eight-run fifth inning, in a
9-6 vic
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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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
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