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07/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A terrific first half of the season is having an unwanted ending for the Cincinnati Reds, who'll be out to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies when the two postseason hopefuls square off again this afternoon from Citizens Bank Park.
It's been a frustrating few days in the City of Brotherly Love for the National League Central-leading Reds, who've yet to win in this series despite having chances to do so in each of the first three meetings. After being edged by the Phillies in 12 innings during Friday's opener, Cincinnati blew a six- run lead in the bottom of the ninth in an eventual 9-7 defeat the following night.
On Saturday, the Reds received a near-perfect game out of rookie starter Travis Wood, but failed to generate any offense in a 1-0, 11-inning loss, the team's third straight setback to the Phillies in extra frames.
Wood, making only his second career start in the majors, retired the first 24 Philadelphia hitters before Carlos Ruiz spoiled his bid for perfection with a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth. The young left-hander rebounded to set down the next three batters to keep the game in a scoreless deadlock.
"The main thing was that he was throwing strikes, first-pitch strikes," said Reds manager Dusty Baker of Wood. "He was getting his secondary pitches over. When he fell behind, he had the composure to come back and throw strikes. You have some very good hitters over there. That was one of the best performances I have seen in a long time."
Unfortunately for Baker and his team, Roy Halladay was just as good on the mound for Philadelphia. The All-Star workhorse also fired nine shutout innings and held the Reds to five hits while striking out nine batters.
Cincinnati had a chance to get on the board against Phillies closer Brad Lidge in the top of the 10th, when Jay Bruce led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. However, Lidge fanned Ryan Hanigan for the second out and after issuing an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Lance Nix, got Brandon Phillips to fly out and end the threat.
Ruiz, activated from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game, doubled off reliever Bill Bray with one out in the bottom of the 11th and scored the game's only run on a two-out single off the bat of Jimmy Rollins.
"That was a lot of fun," said Rollins afterward. "It would have been more fun if we just found a way to get one run so Roy could get that win. Both pitchers were great."
Even with their three straight wins, the two-time defending NL champion Phillies remain 5 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East race and trail Colorado by 2 1/2 games for the league's Wild Card berth.
Cincinnati has now four of its last five tilts, but maintained a two-game edge on St. Louis in the NL Central standings after the Cardinals lost to Houston on Saturday. The Reds have also now been dealt defeats in 10 of their last 12 visits to Citizens Bank Park.
The task doesn't figure to get any easier for the Reds today, considering Phillies scheduled starter Cole Hamels' impressive track record of success against Cincinnati. The 2008 World Series MVP boasts a 5-0 record in six career matchups with today's opponent, and has yielded a mere seven runs (six earned) in a combined 43 innings over the course of those games. The Reds have batted an anemic .150 off of him during that time frame.
Hamels has gone 0-2 with a pair of no-decisions in a four-start span since his most recent victory, which took place June 13 at Boston, but hasn't pitched that badly over the winless stretch. He's allowed three runs and struck out eight through seven innings in each of his last two assignments, a July 1 loss at Pittsburgh and Tuesday's non-verdict against Atlanta at Citizens Bank Park.
The left-hander does come in having lost five of his last six decisions following a 5-2 beginning to the season, but has often been the victim of a lack of offensive support. In those five defeats, the Phillies have scored three or less runs each time.
Philadelphia will take its swings today against rookie Matt Maloney, a former Phillies farmhand who'll be making his second major league start of the season. The left-hander, a third-round selection by the Phils in the 2005 draft, was brought up from the minors earlier in the week to fill the rotation spot vacated by the injured Aaron Harang.
Maloney made his Reds season debut on Tuesday against the New York Mets and was outdueled by Johan Santana in a 3-0 loss. The 26-year-old was touched for all three runs on seven hits, but did issue just one walk in his 5 2/3 innings.
The University of Mississippi product, traded by the Philadelphia organization to the Reds for pitcher Kyle Lohse in July of 2007, made seven starts for Cincinnati last season and went 2-4 with a 4.87 ERA.
The Phillies hold a 4-2 advantage so far in this year's season series with the Reds, with Cincinnati taking two of three bouts between the clubs in Ohio last month.
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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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