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07/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum tries to bounce back from a shaky effort his last time out when the San Francisco Giants close out a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Lincecum escaped without getting a decision on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was hit for five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of his team's 7-5 win. The National League's reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner is 10-4 on the year with a 3.18 earned run average.
"I didn't bring my game to the table. I found myself battling every inning," Lincecum said after his last outing.
Lincecum did not get a decision in his last start against the Diamondbacks, but is 5-1 lifetime against them with a 2.36 ERA in 10 starts. His .833 winning percentage against them is his highest against any NL West opponent.
San Francisco won its third straight game on Saturday, as Juan Uribe hit his fourth career grand slam and Aubrey Huff stayed hot, helping the Giants to a 10-4 rout.
Rookie Buster Posey also extended his hitting streak to 17 games.
In Friday's contest, Huff went 3-for-5 with two home runs, and he followed that with another 3-for-5 performance Saturday. Huff drove in two runs for the Giants, who have won 10 of their last 12.
Another win today would five the Giants their second four-game sweep of the month on the road, but their first in Arizona since turning the trick from July 26-29, 2003. San Francisco swept the Milwaukee Brewers in a four-gamer from July 5-8 at Miller Park.
Madison Bumgarner (4-2) took the win after limiting Arizona to two runs on five hits and three walks in seven innings. He also struck out seven as he won his fourth consecutive start.
While the Giants won, outfielder Eugenio Velez was injured in the fourth inning while in the dugout, as he was struck in the head by a foul ball off Pat Burrell's bat. Velez fell to the ground and, after being attended to by trainers, was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, where he will remain overnight.
"CT scan was negative," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He took a pretty good shot on the left side of the head. Don't know exactly where, but it hit him pretty good. But he never lost consciousness, and he's doing fine now."
Ian Kennedy (5-8) gave up four runs in 6 2/3 innings to take the loss for Arizona, which has lost six in a row to the Giants.
Arizona will pin its hopes on rookie right-hander Barry Enright, who is 2-2 with a 2.66 ERA. Enright was impressive in beating the New York Mets on Tuesday, as he held them to a run and five hits in eight innings. He also struck out eight, while walking a batter.
"I was attacking hitters from the beginning," Enright said. "The first two guys got on, but I never lost that aggressiveness."
This will be his first-ever start against the Giants.
San Francisco leads the 2010 season series with Arizona by a 6-2 margin, and is 19-7 over the past 26 meetings between the two ball clubs.
<< Shin denies Pressel, Thompson at Evian Masters
Evian-les-Bains, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Jiyai Shin
birdied the 18th hole Sunday to earn a one-shot victory at the Evian Masters,
her seventh win on the LPGA Tour.
Shin made five birdies for a five-under 67, fi
<< Hunter tries to stay perfect, as Rangers finish set with Halos
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Hunter will try to remain flawless on the season when
he takes the hill for the Texas Rangers this evening in the finale of a four-
game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Rangers Ballpark in
Arlington.
<< A's, White Sox close set at Coliseum
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Ben Sheets hitting the disabled list Dallas Braden
will head to the hill for Oakland, as the Athletics battle the Chicago
White Sox this afternoon in the finale of a three-game set at the Coliseum.
Sheets, who was su
<< Red Sox send Dice-K to hill in finale with Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -The finale of a four-game series will take place this
afternoon at Safeco Field when the Seattle Mariners take on the Boston Red
Sox.
Heading to the mound this afternoon for Boston will be Daisuke Matsuzaka, who
is looking
Reds, Leake hope to pad lead in NL Central in finale with Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Mike Leake can finish off a series sweep and keep
the Cincinnati Reds in first place this afternoon when they close out a three-
game set with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
The Reds lead the National Leag
Orioles activate C Wieters >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles activated catcher Matt
Wieters from the 15-day disabled list on Sunday.
The 24-year-old backstop was put on the DL on July 10 with a right hamstring
strain. Over 77 games this season,
Gaunt rallies for Challenge Tour victory >>
Essex, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Gaunt closed with a four-under 68
Sunday to come from behind and win the English Challenge.
Gaunt finished at 17-under-par 271 for his first European Challenge Tour
victory.
It was amat
Montanes survives first-round match in Gstaad >>
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Albert Montanes rallied
for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over fellow Spaniard Pere Riba in the first
round of the Gstaad Open.
Russian Igor Andreev was also a first-round winner o
JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.
Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.
MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .
''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''
Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.
He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.
''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''
Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.
Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.
With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.
Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com
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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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