Cellar-dwellers wrap up set at PNC Park
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09/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling one-win pitchers square off today at PNC Park when the host Pittsburgh Pirates and visiting Washington Nationals meet in the rubber game of a three-game weekend series.
The Nationals dropped Friday's opener but came back to win game two on Saturday, as Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run homer and knocked in four en route to a 9-2 verdict. John Lannan (7-6) struck out seven in seven strong innings, walked one and allowed a run on five hits to win for the fifth time in six starts for the Nationals, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Ian Desmond added three hits and an RBI to the win.
Paul Maholm's (7-14) troubles continued, as the southpaw slid to a fifth loss in six starts after surrendering eight hits and seven runs in 4 1/3 frames.
Andrew McCutchen's 13th home run of the season highlighted the Pirates' offense on the way to their sixth loss in the last eight games. Pittsburgh, which has not finished a season above .500 since 1992, has now lost at least 90 games for the sixth straight season.
New Jersey-born right-hander Charlie Morton gets the call for Pittsburgh with a chance to earn his first since early May. The 26-year-old defeated the Chicago Cubs to improve to 1-5 back on May 5, but has since gone 0-5 while also spending time in the minors.
He was recalled in time for an Aug. 29 outing at Milwaukee, in which he was ripped for nine hits and eight runs in just 3 1/3 innings of an 8-4 loss.
Morton, a third-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2002, lost his lone career start against Washington after allowing six hits and four runs in six innings.
For the Nationals, fellow former Atlanta draft pick Jason Marquis also aims for his second win of 2010. Marquis, a supplemental draft selection of the Braves in 1996, was a 15-game winner for Colorado last season before signing a deal with Washington as a free agent. It hasn't worked out so well on the East Coast, with Marquis battling injury and ineffectiveness while going 1-7 through eight starts.
He did win in his most recent outing, however, scattering seven hits and allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings of a 9-3 triumph at Florida on Aug. 30. It was just the third time in eight starts that Marquis pitched at least five innings.
He is 10-6 lifetime against the Pirates in 25 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average.
Washington swept a three-game set from the Pirates back in June .
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Mike Minor goes for a fourth straight win this afternoon when the Atlanta Braves play the rubber match of their three-game series against the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. After getting a no-decision in his b
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies shoot for their sixth straight win and try to complete season sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies, who also swept the Brewers in a three-game set back
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
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The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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