Dunn, D-Backs overcome early deficit to clip Padres
Baseball Betting Lines
08/21/2008 -
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer and walked
twice, as the Arizona Diamondbacks held on for an 8-6 win over San Diego, in
the second of three games with the Padres.
The game was expected to be a pitchers' battle between Arizona's Dan Haren,
who came into the game with a 2.96 earned run average, and San Diego ace Jake
Peavy, who won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award and carried a 2.61 ERA into the
contest.
Instead, Haren (14-6) got enough run support to take the win, after allowing
five runs on 11 hits in six innings. Peavy (9-9) took the loss after
surrendering six runs -- five earned -- on five hits and four walks in five
frames.
Conor Jackson and Mark Reynolds each finished with a hit and two runs batted
in for the Diamondbacks, who have won both games of the series so far and five
of six overall.
Jody Gerut went 3-for-5 with a solo homer, and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run
blast for the Padres, who have lost three in a row.
San Diego did most of its damage in the first inning. Gerut and Tadahito
Iguchi led off with back-to-back doubles to plate one run, and two batters
later, Adrian Gonzalez singled home Iguchi. Kouzmanoff followed with a two-run
shot to left field to give San Diego a 4-0 lead.
But the Diamondbacks responded in the home half. With one out, Augie Ojeda
doubled, and Jackson followed with a walk. That brought up Dunn, who hit his
National League-best 34th home run of the season to bring the D-Backs within
one.
Arizona surged ahead in the second. With one out, Chris Snyder launched a solo
homer to left field to tie the game. Haren then worked a walk and
Stephen Drew singled -- both runners advanced because of right fielder Brian
Giles' fielding error. After Ojeda popped out, Jackson smacked a two-run
single to right for a 6-4 lead.
The game stayed that way until the sixth inning, when the Padres trimmed one
run off its deficit. Nick Hundley stroked a one-out double and advanced to
third on a ground out, then scored when pinch-hitter Brian Myrow singled.
Haren, though, rebounded to get Gerut to line out and end the inning.
The Diamondbacks plated a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
Ojeda led off with a walk facing Clay Hensley, who came on for Peavy in the
sixth. Hensley got Jackson to fly out, but was then lifted for Wilfredo
Ledezma. However, the new Padres pitcher walked Dunn and pinch-hitter Tony
Clark to fill the bases. Reynolds hit a two-run double to left to provide an
8-5 lead for Arizona.
After Tony Pena tossed a scoreless eighth for Arizona, Jon Rauch entered
for the ninth and got the first two outs before giving up a solo homer to
Gerut. However, Rauch got Iguchi to ground out, ending the game.
Game Notes
Kouzmanoff's homer was his 19th of the season, a new career high. He hit 18
last season for the Padres...Rauch notched his 18th save of the season...No
Diamondbacks player had more than one hit, and the club had fewer hits (six)
than runs.
<< Top-notch field of 11 set for Pacific Classic
Del Mar, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eleven of the best older thoroughbreds in
training make up the field for Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The winner of the 1 1/4 mile race gains an automatic spot in the 2008
Breeder
<< Verdasco rolls; Fish advances, Karlovic falls at Pilot Pen
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco was
an easy third-round winner, while second-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic went by way
of the upset Wednesday at the $708,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final U.S.
Open tu
<< Bocanegra's header helps USA hold off Guatemala
Guatemala City, Guatemala (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Bocanegra scored in the
68th minute to help the United States down Guatemala, 1-0 at Mateo Flores on
Wednesday in a World Cup qualifier.
The USA is now 5-0-4 against Guatemala all-
<< Busch wins caution-filled truck race at Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch ended Johnny Benson's bid for a
record-setting fourth straight victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
on Wednesday by winning the O'Reilly 200 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch
led 145
<< Marlins SS Ramirez leaves game vs. Giants with hand injury
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins lost shortstop
Hanley Ramirez to a hand injury in Wednesday's game against the San Francisco
Giants.
Ramirez singled in the top of the third inning and stole second base. As he
slid
Cardinals P Wainwright to return >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam
Wainwright is expected to return from the disabled list and start Friday
against the Atlanta Braves.
Wainwright has been on the DL since June 8 with a
LaRue, Cardinals rough up Pirates >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason LaRue hit a two-run homer, doubled
and finished with three runs batted in, as St. Louis blasted Pittsburgh, 11-2,
in the finale of a two-game set with the Pirates.
Rick Ankiel also had a two-run bl
Phils' Myers brilliant in shutout of punchless Nats >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Myers threw a nine-hit shutout,
and Greg Dobbs hit a two-run homer, as Philadelphia blanked Washington, 4-0,
in the second of three games with the Nationals.
Myers (6-10) worked out of sev
Marlins SS Ramirez leaves game vs. Giants with thumb injury >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins lost shortstop
Hanley Ramirez to a thumb injury in Wednesday's 6-5 loss to the San Francisco
Giants.
Ramirez singled in the top of the third inning and stole second base. As
Heat re-sign Wright >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat re-signed guard/forward Dorell
Wright to an undisclosed contract Thursday.
Wright, who originally signed with the Heat after being drafted in the first
round in the 2004 NBA Draft, has app
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.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
|
