Angels try to rebound against Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now just a game in front in the American League West, the LA Angels of Anaheim try to bounce back tonight as they challenge the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a three-game set at the Metrodome.

The Angels, who are ahead of the surging Seattle Mariners in the division by just a single game entering the weekend, have lost four of the last five outings following a 7-5 setback in the series opener last night.

Justin Morneau homered and drove in three runs and Jason Kubel finished 3- for-3 with a two-run triple for the Twins as they snapped a three-game slide with the triumph. The duo picked up the offensive slack for the club after Michael Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day DL with a sprained right thumb prior to the contest.

Carlos Silva picked up the win for the home team as he allowed four earned runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings, while Joe Nathan logged his 19th save of the campaign as well.

LA starter John Lackey made it through only five innings, permitting seven runs, five earned, on 10 hits, while fanning three. Mike Napoli finished with three hits and Chone Figgins scored twice for the visitors, who again failed to hit a home run for the 13th straight game, the club's longest drought in more than three decades.

Following up an impressive rookie season in 2006 in which he went 11-2 for the Angels, Jered Weaver heads out to the mound for LA tonight in search of his seventh win of the campaign.

Weaver, a product of Long Beach State, has not won in more than a month and failed to earn a decision in his most recent outing on Sunday when he allowed two unearned runs on four hits versus Texas at home. Striking out six and walking two over seven innings, Weaver's Angels bowed in a 5-4 decision.

In his only previous appearance this season versus Minnesota, the right-hander got plenty of run support in a 16-3 drubbing of the Twins at home. In that game Weaver permitted just a single run on five hits over seven innings of action. That victory marked the only decision of his brief two-year career against Minnesota.

As for the Twins, they have Boof Bonser slated to oppose Weaver on the hill. Bonser, a right-hander from Florida, is also in his second year in the majors and has not earned a victory since the second week of June. More recently Bonser threw 6 1/3 innings versus Oakland on Sunday, giving up three runs on five hits and a trio of walks, but he failed to factor into the 4-3 win for his team.

Morneau, who has two home runs and six RBI over the last six games for the Twins, is now second in the AL in both home runs (26) and RBI (81) for a team that is eight games out of contention in the AL Central behind both Detroit and Cleveland.

Despite being second in the American League in hitting this season with a mark of .283 over 95 games, the Angels are second-to-last in home runs with a mere 64, dragging the team's slugging down to .408. Although he does not appear among the league leaders at the moment, Figgins is hitting .317 for the club this season, while Vladimir Guerrero is at .326 with 14 home runs and 78 RBI.

The Angels took two of three from the Twins earlier in the season and are 17-12 in the series since the start of the 2004 campaign.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW 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.

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