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Dodgers welcome Brewers to Chavez RavineBaseball Betting Lines05/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers aim to build off their first three-game winning streak of the 2010 campaign when the reigning National League West champions begin a three-game series with the slumping Milwaukee Brewers this evening at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles appears to have gotten back on course after an undesired 8-14 start to this season, which included a string of five consecutive defeats from April 25-29. The club hasn't lost since that slide, however, and had its offense firing on all cylinders in its most recent outing, a 9-3 triumph over Pittsburgh in which the Dodgers banged out 16 hits, seven of which went for extra bases. Andre Ethier went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBI to lead the way, with Blake DeWitt delivering a 4-for-4, three-RBI performance for the Dodgers. James Loney had a big day at the plate as well, with the first baseman collecting three hits and knocking in a pair of runs. Ethier has been on fire during Los Angeles' recent surge, having gone 7-for-13 with four homers and nine RBI over the course of the last three wins. The standout outfielder leads all NL players with 26 RBI this season, while his nine long balls are tied for tops in the league. "I've been going good and hitting the ball well," Ethier said. "You dial it up a little more when there are runners on base." Starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda also did his part in Sunday's triumph, limiting the Pirates to one run and five hits over eight strong innings to run his season record to 3-1. Clayton Kershaw would love for his club to come through with a similar offensive outburst as Sunday's display when the hard-luck hurler toes the rubber for the Dodgers tonight. The talented southpaw has pitched at least six innings and allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last three starts, but has a loss and two no-decisions to show for those efforts. Los Angeles has scored only three runs during his time on the mound in those games. Kershaw was dealt a 2-0 setback by the Pirates this past Thursday after being touched for a pair of runs over 6 1/3 innings of work. The former first-round draft choice did strike out seven and surrendered just three hits on the night. The 22-year-old, who's 1-1 with a 2.81 earned run average in three previous appearances against the Brewers, owns an excellent 2.47 ERA over 30 career starts at Dodger Stadium and has been tough to hit in his home park once again this season. Opponents are batting a mere .156 off Kershaw through his first three assignments at Chavez Ravine in 2010, although he's only 1-1 over that span. Kershaw will be taking on a Brewers squad that's really slumping offensively at the moment. Milwaukee has mustered a paltry 12 runs over its last 10 tilts, losing eight of those tests, and was shut out three times during a four-game series in San Diego that concluded with Sunday's 8-0 blanking by the Padres. The Brewers managed only three hits -- all singles -- against Jon Garland and two San Diego relievers and stranded 10 baserunners for the game. Milwaukee also received a subpar start out of Randy Wolf (2-2), with the ex- Dodger issuing six walks and serving up a pair of homers while surrendering four runs over the first five innings. "When you walk that many guys you're going to lose some effectiveness on pitches," Wolf said afterward. "You never want to throw 100 pitches in five innings. That's not what you're supposed to do." Chris Narveson will attempt to give Milwaukee a sharper effort when he opposes Kershaw in tonight's opener. The southpaw makes his second start of 2010 after pitching nine times out of the bullpen to begin the season. Narveson had a decent showing in his first start of the year, striking out six batters while permitting three runs in a five-inning no-decision against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. He's taking the rotation spot of Jeff Suppan, who was banished to the bullpen last week after a couple of ineffective outings. The 28-year-old Narveson is 1-0 with a 6.60 ERA over 15 innings pitched for the season and will be taking on the Dodgers for the first time in his career. Milwaukee has gone just 4-8 at Dodger Stadium since the start of the 2006 season but did take two of three from Los Angeles on the road last August.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTINGNCAA 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. Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com. 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. Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana Should be in: Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it? Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel. Work left to do: Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third. Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim. Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either. Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim. For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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