Red Sox open set against visiting Indians

Baseball Betting Lines

08/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox shoot for a third straight win this evening when they open a four-game series with the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox took two of three over the weekend from the Detroit Tigers, winning the final two contests in the ninth inning. On Sunday, Boston pulled out the series win, as Darnell McDonald scored on Robbie Weinhardt's throwing error to give the Red Sox a 4-3 win.

Jonathan Papelbon (4-4) got the win but was charged with a blown save after giving up a three-run lead in the top of the ninth.

Clay Buchholz got the start and pitched into the ninth, and despite hurling eight scoreless frames was eventually charged with three hits and a pair of runs with five strikeouts and four walks in eight-plus innings.

"My fastball was pretty good and I had my cutter tonight," said Buchholz. "The changeup was there too so it added up to a good outing for me today. Good game all around by the whole team."

Adrian Beltre, Patterson and Ryan Kalish drove in a run each for the Red Sox, who have won five of their last six.

Tonight, the Red Sox give the ball to righty John Lackey, who is unbeaten in his last three starts, surrendering four runs in 22 1/3 innings of those outings. Lackey returned to his former stomping grounds on Tuesday in Anaheim and beat the Angels, holding them to a two runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 frames. He is 10-5 on the year with a 4.26 ERA.

Lackey is 6-6 in 14 starts against the Indians with a 3.71 ERA.

Cleveland, meanwhile, comes into tonight's tilt following a week that saw it deal off Jhonny Peralta, Austin Kearns, Kerry Wood and Jake Westbrook. The Indians, though, managed to take two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays, including a 5-4 win in Sunday's finale at Rogers Centre.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Jason Donald added a solo shot in the win. Cabrera finished 2-for-5 and scored twice and Carlos Santana knocked in a run for Cleveland, which has split its last six overall.

Jeanmar Gomez (2-0), who was making only his second big league start, worked five effective innings, allowing two runs on five hits. The 22-year-old hurler's starting debut came back on June 18 when he pitched seven scoreless innings to beat Detroit. Chris Perez worked a scoreless ninth inning to record his 12th save of the season.

Cleveland pins its hopes on righty Fausto Carmona, who is 10-8 with a 3.92 ERA. Carmona lost for the first time in four starts on Wednesday against the New York Yankees, as he was hammered for seven runs and 10 hits in just 2 2/3 innings.

Carmona lost to the Red Sox earlier in the year and is 1-3 in six games (four starts) against them with a 5.16 ERA.

Cleveland has split its four games with the Red Sox this season after losing seven of nine to them last season.

Wwwvisitalk Baseball Betting News

<< Rolling Twins send out red-hot Pavano to face Rays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams with first place on their minds start a three- game series this evening, as the red-hot Minnesota Twins visit the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener of a four-game set at Tropicana Field. Minnesota has won eight straig

<< Diamondbacks return home to face Nats
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks will have a considerably different look when they return to Chase Field tonight to begin a four-game series with the Washington Nationals. Arizona was one of the most active sellers in the days lea

<< Quest for 600th HR brings A-Rod, Yankees back to Bronx vs. Blue Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez's quest to become the youngest player to 600 home runs takes him back to the Bronx this evening when the New York Yankees open a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Rodriguez has gon

<< Thrashers deal White to Rangers for Brashear
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers have traded center Todd White to the New York Rangers in exchange for forwards Donald Brashear and Patrick Rissmiller. White appeared in 65 games for the Thrashers last season, post

<< Brewers sign Hart to extension
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers have signed outfielder Corey Hart to a three-year contract extension. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the new deal will take the two-time All-Star through the 2013 campaign.

Cahill eyes 11th victory as A's battle Royals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Cahill goes after win No. 11 this evening when the Oakland Athletics open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at the Coliseum. Cahill was brilliant in beating the American League West-leading Texas Ra

Westbrook makes Cardinals debut in opener with Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros may have parted ways with a couple of longtime stalwarts over the past few days, but it looks as if Brett Myers will be around for quite a while longer. One day after signing a contract extension, Myers

Reds hit road for clash with bumbling Bucs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Wood has been a huge boost to the Cincinnati Reds' rotation and finally has a win to show for it. The Pittsburgh Pirates hope to get a similar lift tonight from Ross Ohlendorf, who has to feel lucky he can even make hi

Aces to go head-to-head as Mets, Braves begin key series >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With both the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets' respective offenses not carrying much momentum, tonight's opener of a three-game series between the clubs could come down to pitching. Atlanta might surprisingly have the edg

Cubs, Brewers to battle in matchup of Central disappointments >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs were expected to contend for a playoff spot this year. Instead, the two clubs will both be looking to snap five-game losing streaks in this evening's opener of a three- game series

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

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.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.