Pads don't get sucked into Webb of lies, crush D'Backs
Baseball Betting Lines
08/27/2008 -
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Giles hit a three-run homer and Kevin
Kouzmanoff drove in three runs, as the San Diego Padres spoiled Brandon Webb's
bid for his 20th win with a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the
continuation of a three-game series at Petco Park.
Chad Reineke (2-1) pitched five innings and allowed two runs on two hits to
earn the victory for San Diego, which has won two straight on the heels of a
seven-game skid. Chase Headley added a pair of RBI in the victory.
Mark Reynolds' two-run blast provided the only offense for the Diamondbacks,
who have lost three straight and four of their last five games overall.
Despite the setback, due to another loss by the LA Dodgers, the D'Backs still
hold a three game lead atop the NL West.
Webb (19-5) suffered through an unusually poor outing in which he yielded six
runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Webb's next attempt to become the National
League's first 20-game winner since 2005 will commence on Sunday, when he is
scheduled to take the hill at home against the Dodgers.
"It was very atypical -- you don't see that very often," said Arizona manager
Bob Melvin about Webb's struggles. "From the third inning on, he looked like
he did not have good stuff, and very rarely do you see that."
The Padres broke the game open with a five-run third inning. After consecutive
singles by Nick Hundley and Tadahito Iguchi, Giles belted his 10th home run of
the season over the wall in right field. Later in the stanza, with two runners
on base, Kouzmanoff's double to deep center gave the hosts a 5-0 advantage.
"You want the ball up in the zone because (Webb's) sinker runs pretty hard
away from you," said Giles. "(The count) was 3-1 and (Webb) left the ball out
over the plate and I was able to handle it."
Arizona scored its only runs of the night in the top of the fourth. Adam Dunn
singled and came home when Reynolds followed with his 25th homer.
In the fifth, Headley's RBI single made it 6-2.
A pair of runs for San Diego in the bottom of the seventh pushed its lead to
six. With Leo Rosales on the mound, Adrian Gonzalez drew a one-out walk and
came around to score on a Kouzmanoff double. The next batter was Headley, who
roped a single to center field and Kouzmanoff came home.
The scoring was capped by Jody Gerut's RBI single in the eighth.
Five San Diego relievers -- Clay Hensley, Mike Adams, Brian Fallen, Heath Bell
and Brett Tomko combined to pitch four scoreless innings of one-hit ball with
four strikeouts and three walks.
Game Notes
The Padres outhit the D-Backs, 13-3...The last 20-game winner in the NL was
Dontrelle Willis, who won 22 with Florida. He is also seeking to join Randy
Johnson and Curt Schilling as the only pitchers in club history to reach the
20-win mark. The six earned runs he allowed in this one raised his earned run
average from 2.74 to 2.96. Webb fell to 6-8 lifetime against the Padres in 22
starts...Reineke fanned four and issued four walks...Giles has now scored 430
runs as a Padre, which ties him with Gary Templeton for sixth place on the
all-time runs scored list in club history...Attendance was 32,104.
<< Lackey and Angels cruise past A's
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Lackey recorded his 13th career complete
game to help the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim down the Oakland Athletics in a
5-1 victory in the second of a three-game set.
Lackey (11-2) scattered seven hits
<< Mets C Castro leaves game in Philly
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets catcher Ramon Castro
left Tuesday's 13-inning 8-7 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies due to right
quad strain.
Castro suffered the setback as he reached first thanks to an error
<< M's shock Twins
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Rowland-Smith threw seven strong innings
to help the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 win in the second of three games at
Safeco Field against the Minnesota Twins.
Adrian Beltre went 3-for-4 with a run
<< Phils Coste into first place
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Coste was 4-for-4 off the bench and
drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the 13th
inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies over the New York Mets, 8-7, in the
opener
<< Braves score four in ninth, rally for win over Marlins
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yunel Escobar hit the game-winning RBI single
to cap a four-run ninth and lift the Atlanta Braves over the Florida Marlins,
10-9, in the first of a three-game set at Turner Field.
Omar Infante scored three
Atkins, Hawpe lead streaking Rockies over Giants in SF >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Garrett Atkins drove in two runs and
Brad Hawpe finished 2-for-2 with a double, three walks and three runs scored,
as the Colorado Rockies defeated the San Francisco Giants, 7-2, in the middle
test of
Buscher leads the way as Twins clip Mariners >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Buscher's pinch hit two-run single in
the eighth inning proved to be the difference as Minnesota fought back to beat
Seattle, 6-5, in the finale of a three-game set at Safeco Field.
Denard Span added
Braves obtain Dessens >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves signed pitcher Elmer
Dessens on Wednesday to a contract through the end of this season. He is
expected to be added to the club's roster later this week.
Dessens, 37, last pitche
Portland signs F Jackson, two rookies >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers signed a trio
of players Wednesday including forward Luke Jackson and two rookies, center
Steven Hill and guard Jamaal Tatum.
Per team policy, terms of the contracts were no
Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Dementieva reach third round in Flushing >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic,
former champion and last year's runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Olympic
gold medalist Elena Dementieva were a trio of second-round winners Wednesday
at the
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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