Big-hitting Blue Jays close out set at Tampa
Baseball Betting Lines
09/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays displayed their trademark power in knocking off the playoff-hopeful Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, but the heavy- hitting club figures to face a more stern challenge in tonight's finale of this three-game series between the American League East inhabitants from Tropicana Field.
Toronto entered last night's contest leading all of baseball with 198 home runs, then swatted three more in a 13-5 rout of the Rays to even this set. Slugger Jose Bautista belted his major league-best 43rd round-tripper of the season and knocked in four runs to help the Blue Jays put an end to a two-game skid.
Bautista's homer, a three-run shot off reliever Lance Cormier, capped a sixth- inning eruption in which Toronto scored 10 times and sent 14 men to the plate. Aaron Hill added a two-run homer during the big frame, while Vernon Wells, Adam Lind and John Buck came through with consecutive doubles as the Jays overcame a 3-1 deficit heading into the inning.
"Any time you can explode, it's funny how the momentum side of baseball kicks in," Hill told MLB.com afterward. "It was nice to take advantage of some things and get the ball rolling a little bit."
John McDonald had a solo homer earlier in the game and scored three times for Toronto, which received three hits and a pair of RBI from Dewayne Wise as well.
The offensive outburst enabled Jays starter Ricky Romero (11-8) to garner his 11th victory of the season despite giving up five runs (four earned) and issuing five walks in 7 1/3 innings.
Toronto hopes it can duplicate last night's performance at the plate when the club takes its swings this evening against Rays All-Star David Price, who's been a real nemesis for the Blue Jays during his somewhat brief tenure in the big leagues. The 2007 No. 1 overall draft pick boasts a 5-0 record and an excellent 2.09 earned run average over six career starts against tonight's opponent, with three of those wins having taken place this season.
Price has been sensational in all three of those matchups, having yielded only three runs -- one earned -- and 17 hits over a combined 23 innings of work. The best of the bunch occurred at Tropicana Field on April 25, when the talented lefty allowed four hits and fanned nine in registering the only shutout of his career to date.
The 25-year-old has compiled a strong 15-6 record and a 3.01 ERA in 25 assignments for the year, though he hasn't been at his best of late. Price has posted a 4.26 ERA during a current three-start winless stretch and was touched for three runs and 10 hits through seven innings in a home loss to Boston last Friday.
The defeat was only Price's second at Tropicana Field this season, with the former Vanderbilt star having gone 7-2 with a 2.26 ERA in his 12 home starts.
Tampa Bay has also fared rather well when hosting the Blue Jays in recent years, as Wednesday's loss was only the Rays' sixth in their last 28 home encounters with Toronto. The Jays are 3-5 at Tropicana Field this season, with the teams having split 14 overall meetings thus far in 2010.
The Rays will be counting on Price to pitch more effectively than teammate Jeff Niemann (10-5) did near the end of his start last night. After permitting just one run over the first five innings, the towering right-hander allowed six straight batters to reach base to begin the sixth before being removed. He was charged with seven runs on seven hits for the evening.
"All of sudden, I couldn't get anybody out," said Niemann following the loss.
Dan Johnson and Reid Brignac each knocked in a pair of runs in Tuesday's loss, which halted a three-game win streak for Tampa. The Rays did fall out of a first-place tie with the New York Yankees in the AL East standings after the Bronx Bombers bested Oakland last night.
Shaun Marcum will try to deal the Rays a second straight defeat when he opposes Price tonight. The steady right-hander comes into this tilt off his third straight quality start, a no-decision against Detroit on Friday in which he gave up just one run in six innings.
Two appearances earlier, Marcum went the distance on a one-hitter in a 3-1 verdict over Oakland on August 16, then held Boston to three runs and just four hits in seven innings of a hard-luck shutout loss at Fenway Park six days later.
The Tommy John surgery survivor owns a solid 7-4 record with a 3.96 ERA in 14 road starts this year, but was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits over a poor four-inning stint in a June 9 loss to the Rays at the Trop. He's 2-2 with a 3.22 ERA in six lifetime games (five starts) against Tampa Bay, with both setbacks having come this season.
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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.
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