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Brewers edge Padres; Stairs sets HR mark

Baseball Betting Lines

08/21/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Dickerson had two hits and two runs batted in and Mike McClendon worked three scoreless innings to earn his first major-league win as Milwaukee downed San Diego, 6-5, in the middle meeting of a three-game set.

Ryan Braun hit his first home run since July 24 while Prince Fielder singled, scored a run, drove in a run and walked twice to lead the Brewers to a fourth straight win.

McClendon (1-0) allowed one hit, walked three and struck out three in his second big league outing. John Axford tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames to garner his 19th save of the season for Milwaukee, which evened the season series at three games apiece.

"The first night I thought my sinker was definitely on. I could put it where I wanted to. Tonight, I had to mix it up and just see what happens," said the rookie right-hander when asked to compare his first two outings. "It was pretty exciting" describing what it felt like to get his first career win. "That was one of the best games I've ever seen or ever been a part of."

Kevin Correia (10-8) took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings for the Padres, who have lost two straight after a five-game win streak.

Matt Stairs' two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning cut the Brewers' lead to 6-5 and was the 21st of his career to establish a new record.

Alcides Escobar doubled with one out in the first and scored the game's first run on a two-out single by Fielder.

Escobar and Fielder walked around a Braun single to load the bases with nobody out in the third for Casey McGehee, who delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Escobar to push the lead to 2-0. Lorenzo Cain singled to reload the bases for Dickerson, who drove in Braun with a ground ball out.

San Diego used a Ryan Ludwick single and walks to Chase Headley and Yorvit Torrealba to load the bases with nobody out in the fourth. Chris Denorfia followed with a two-run double to left to cut the lead to 3-2 and chase Chris Narveson from the hill.

McClendon took over and walked Scott Hairston to reload the bases before a base hit by Corriea plated Torreabla to tie the game. However, the visitors were unable to push across any more runs after David Eckstein and Miguel Tejada bounced into force plays at the plate and Adrian Gonzalez struck out.

Narveson was charged with three runs on four hits and three walks in three- plus innings of work in his first career start against San Diego.

Fielder started the fifth inning with a walk, moved to second base on a McGehee single and to third on a Cain fielder's choice grounder that also brought Correia's night to an end.

"It wasn't a great outing, obviously," commented Correia. "I definitely had some opportunities to turn it into a decent start but they had a different approach then I thought they were going to have. They waited on my off-speed stuff and that's where they got all of their hits. It was a good mindset for them and I just wasn't up to the task."

Joe Thatcher was brought on to face Dickerson, who delivered a sacrifice fly to push Fielder across with the go-ahead run. Cain stole second and scored when Jonathan Lucroy singled into right field to make it a 5-3 game.

Braun's two-out solo shot to left-center off Ernesto Frieri in the sixth extended the home team's lead to 6-3.

After Zach Braddock tossed a scoreless seventh inning, Kameron Loe assumed the hill for Milwaukee in the eighth. Denorfia singled with one out and scored when Stairs followed with his blast to right field. Loe was lifted after the next pitch to Will Venable and replaced by Axford.

Venable singled and stole second but was left stranded when Tejada struck out to end the frame. Axford then set down San Diego in turn in the ninth to end the game.

Game Notes

Stairs and Cliff Johnson had shared the record for pinch-hit homers with 20 before coming into Saturday's game...Milwaukee's Corey Hart did not play in the game due to tightness in his right hamstring that caused him to leave Friday's game...McGehee has 24 RBI during August...He finished 2-for-3 for his 34th multi-hit game of the season...Braun snapped a string of 87 at-bats without a long ball since his prior home run off Washington's J.D. Martin...He finished 2-for-4 to collect his 44th multi-hit game of the season...Eckstein was activated off the 15-day disabled list prior to the game...He had been sidelined since July 21 with a right calf strain...Correia had won his last three starts overall and his last three road turns before falling Saturday night...Gonzalez went 1-for-5 and had a five-game multi-hit streak at Miller Park snapped...San Diego is 22-7 against the NL Central. Milwaukee is 48-6 when leading after seven innings.


<< Rams edge Browns on late FG
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Brown kicked four field goals, including the game-winning 28-yard boot late in the fourth quarter, as St. Louis grabbed a 19-17 preseason win over Cleveland. A.J. Feeley led the Rams on a

<< Folk, Jets edge Panthers
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Folk booted three field goals to lead New York to a 9-3 win over Carolina at Bank of America Stadium. Mark Sanchez completed 5-of-10 passes for 12 yards and Joe McKnight carried 11 times for 28 yards

<< Longtime Pistons PR director Dobek passes away
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Dobek, who served in the Detroit Pistons organization for 29 years up until this past May, passed away at the age of 51. The Detroit Free Press reported Dobek's death, but cited no reason for his

<< Daniel leads Saints over Texans
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Daniel completed 15-of-21 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, leading the New Orleans Saints to a 38-20 preseason victory over the Houston Texans. Daniel also threw an interception in r

<< Enright and Upton carry DBacks past Rockies
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Enright pitched into the seventh inning and Justin Upton finally got the best of Ubaldo Jimenez by hitting the go- ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, as Arizona topped Colorado, 3-1, at Chase F

Campbell, Raiders top Bears >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Campbell threw for 170 yards on 10-of-20 passing and ran for a touchdown, as the Oakland Raiders took a 32-17 preseason victory over the Chicago Bears. Campbell, who also had one interception, played

New York Jets 2010 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - To be a fan of the New York Jets is to be encoded with the skepticism chip. When you've hitched your wagon to an organization that has, for more than four decades, taken two colossal steps back for every stride forward, de

Rodriguez's homer lifts Rays over A's >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sean Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, game-winning two-run homer with two outs in the eighth, and the Tampa Bay Rays slipped past the Oakland A's, 5-4, in the third of four games at Oakland Coliseum. Rodriguez's

Stanton leads Lions over Broncos >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Stanton's 25-yard rushing touchdown with just under two minutes remaining lifted the Detroit Lions over the Denver Broncos, 25-20, in the second preseason game for each club at Invesco Field. Stanto

Cowboys beat Chargers on late safety >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas' Tony Romo and San Diego's Philip Rivers were each picked off during their first offensive series and the Cowboys earned a sloppy 16-14 preseason win over the Chargers thanks to a late safety.

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.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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