07/05/2008 - Baltimore, MD (Baseball Betting) - Ian Kinsler smashed a two-run home run to help the Texas Rangers to a 5-3 win in the middle portion of a three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Michael Young went 3-for-5 with an RBI, while German Duran was 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for the Rangers, who have won four of their last six games. Scott Feldman (3-3) picked up the win for giving up three runs on five hits and four walks over six innings.
Nick Markakis hit a two-run double and Brian Burres was tagged for three runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings for the Orioles, who had won three of four coming into the contest. Lance Cormier (1-3) was charged with the loss.
"Their bullpen was better than ours," said Baltimore manager Dave Trembley. "I think that's the game in a nutshell."
Texas struck quick in the first inning as Kinsler led off with a double and then came home when Young followed with a single for a 1-0 lead.
Baltimore, though, answered to take the lead in the bottom of the first. Back- to-back singles from Brian Roberts and Jay Payton was followed by a double from Markakis to bring home both runners. Melvin Mora later lifted a sacrifice fly to score Markakis for a 3-1 advantage.
The Rangers got a run back in the second as Duran punched a one-out double and later crossed the plate on a single from Josh Hamilton.
Texas then grabbed the lead in the sixth. After issuing a two-out double to Duran, Burres stepped aside on the mound for Cormier. Kinsler then greeted Cormier with a line drive shot that just cleared the left field wall for a 4-3 lead.
"He (Cormier) fell behind," said Kinsler. He gave me the opportunity to swing at a couple of pitches aggressively. I don't know if you could tell (but) I was trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. The 3-1 pitch, I shortened my swing a little bit more. I was still trying to do some damage. I was trying to either tie it up or hit it out of the ballpark, and the ball was up."
The Orioles, meanwhile, hit into double plays in the second and fourth inning and stranded two men on base in the fifth and sixth innings.
Baltimore got a one-out double from Roberts in the seventh inning and he later moved to third on an infield single from Markakis. Aubrey Huff, though, weakly grounded out to second to end the frame.
Texas added some insurance in the eighth as the team loaded the bases before Young hit into a double play to plate Max Ramirez.
Eddie Guardado worked around a one-out single in the eighth, while C.J. Wilson struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his 20th save of the season.
Game Notes
Texas catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia left the game in the sixth inning with a strained right groin and is listed as day-to-day...Texas left 10 men on base while Baltimore stranded eight...Kinsler has 14 home runs while Hamilton drove in his MLB-leading 83rd run of the season...Attendance was 19,006...Kinsler extended his hitting streak to 17 games...Before the game, Texas placed pitcher Joaquin Benoit on the 15-day disabled list and purchased the contract of pitcher Dustin Nippert from Triple-A Oklahoma while Baltimore selected contract of pitcher Greg Aquino from Triple-A Norfolk and designated pitcher Ryan Bukvich for assignment...Markakis extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
<< Loretta, Astros make easily work of slumping Braves
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Loretta finished 3-for-4 with three
doubles and four RBI as Houston pounded Atlanta, 6-1, in the middle contest of
a three-game set at Turner Field.
Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada knocked in the ot
<< Fielder's late hit pushes Brewers past Bucs
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Prince Fielder's RBI single in the bottom
of the ninth lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh in the
second of three games with the Pirates.
Tyler Yates took the mound for Pittsburgh
<< Nats' Dukes leaves with knee injury
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals left fielder Elijah
Dukes left Saturday's contest against the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh
inning after twisting the patella bone in his right knee.
Dukes took an awkward l
<< Rangers C Saltalamacchia leaves contest
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia
left Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles with a right groin strain.
The 23-year-old Saltalamacchia, who was replaced by Max Ramirez in the sixth
innin
Sonnastine and Rays blank Royals >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Zobrist tripled and homered, and
Andy Sonnanstine threw seven shutout innings, as the Tampa Bay Rays topped
Kansas City, 3-0, in the second of four games with the Royals.
Sonnanstine (10-3) s
Reds rally late to swat Nats >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerry Hairston Jr. singled to start
the ninth, stole second, and scored the winning run on a Brandon Phillips
single, as the Cincinnati Reds edged the Washington Nationals, 3-2, in the
third i
Meena Lee, Ji share lead in Arkansas >>
Rogers, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Meena Lee fired a seven-under 65 Saturday to
move into a share of the lead with the second round of the NW Arkansas
Championship suspended due to darkness.
Lee completed 36 holes at 12-under-par 132.
Mets rally late to topple Phillies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Damion Easley went 3-for-5 and knocked
in a run, while Brian Schneider's two-run, pinch-hit double in the eighth
inning proved to be the difference as the New York Mets rolled past
Philade
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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