08/14/2008 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Zobrist hit the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh and the Rays took the second test of their three-game series against the Athletics, 3-2, at McAfee Coliseum.
"(Zobrist)'s at bats have gotten better. There's more force in his swing," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He's done a great job. He's been valuable for us."
Andy Sonnanstine (12-6) threw his third consecutive quality start, throwing six innings on just two runs and six hits. He struck out six and walked one in the win. The Rays bullpen pitched three scoreless innings, including Troy Percival's 27th save of the season.
"(Sonnanstine) had really good stuff tonight," Maddon said. "His last two outings are as good as I've seen him in a long time. He's always been a winner."
Eric Hinske finished the day 3-for-3 with a homer while Carlos Pena added another home run to give Tampa Bay its sixth win in eight games.
Justin Duchscherer (10-8) lost his third straight decision, and the team lost its sixth consecutive game in which the righty has pitched. He finished the day after 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on six hits while striking out a career-high eight and walking one.
Eric Patterson knocked in two runs after being called up earlier Wednesday from Triple-A Sacramento. Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby added two hits apiece in the loss, Oakland's 13th in 15 games.
The Rays took the lead in the seventh. Hinske led off with a single, and two batters later Gabe Gross reached on an infield single, moving the runner to second.
Justin Ruggiano pinch-ran for Hinske, and Jerry Blevins came on in relief of Duchscherer. Zobrist was the first batter Blevins faced, and he laced a double down the left field line, scoring Ruggiano and giving Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead.
Jack Cust led off the Oakland ninth by drawing a walk. Rajai Davis came in to pinch-run and was quickly erased as he was gunned down attempting to steal second. Crosby popped out and after Emil Brown walked, Kurt Suzuki popped out to second to end the game.
Tampa Bay added home runs in both the first and second innings for an early 2-0 lead. Pena's 22nd homer of the year with two outs in the first accounted for the first run, and Hinske's 17th of the season to lead off the second provided the second run.
The Athletics came back to tie the game in the fifth. Crosby led off with a double, and Jack Hannahan singled to put runners on the corners. After Suzuki walked to load the bases, Patterson singled down the right field line to score Crosby and Hannahan, tying the game.
Game Notes
Tampa Bay leads the season series 5-3...Before the game the Athletics placed Ryan Sweeney on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right thumb. The team replaced Sweeney on the roster with Patterson...Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez had successful surgery to repair his right shoulder Wednesday. The six-time Gold Glove winner should make a full recovery after six months.
<< Izturis leaves after injuring thumb
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim shortstop Maicer
Izturis left Wednesday's contest against the Seattle Mariners in the top of
the ninth with an injury to his thumb.
Yuniesky Betancourt hit a grounder towards
<< Oklahoma City
Acquired forward Joe Smith from Cleveland and forward Desmond Mason from Milwaukee in exchange for forward Adrian Griffin and guard Luke Ridnour.
<< Blazers' G Roy to undergo surgery
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy will
have arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday to repair a tear in the meniscus of
his left knee, the club announced Wednesday.
An MRI taken Tuesday revealed the tear
<< Hawpe, Rox edge D'Backs
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Hawpe clubbed a two-run homer in the bottom
of the eighth inning and the Colorado Rockies withstood a ninth-inning charge
from the Arizona Diamondbacks to hang on for a 6-5 win in the middle
install
Brewers extend winning streak to eight, crush Padres >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CC Sabathia threw seven effective innings and
Corey Hart went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in to help Milwaukee tie a
season high with its eighth consecutive win, a 7-1 victory over San Diego.
The Bre
Balentien gives M's come-from-behind, 12-inning win over Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wladimir Balentien hit the go-ahead three-run
homer in the 12th inning as the Seattle Mariners gutted out a 10-7 victory to
earn a two-game split with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Justin Speier (1-5)
Let's settle arguments on the track >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trash talk is not a common feature in
horse racing. The humans involved in the Sport of Kings don't usually bad-
mouth the other people in the sport. They talk about their horses and find
reasons
CFL Previews - Week 8 (August 14-15) >>
Toronto, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (2-5) AT WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (1-6)
DATE & TIME: Thursday, August 14, 8 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: It's not even the midpoint of the regular season and already the
Winnipeg Blue
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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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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