Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
08/28/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Blackburn hurled 8 2/3 scoreless innings and Denard Span drove in the lone run as Minnesota clipped Seattle, 1-0, in the middle test of three from Safeco Field.
Blackburn (8-8) yielded two hits to win for the first time since June 29, and failed to allow a run in a start for the first time since May 9 against Baltimore.
He retired 21 batters in succession from the second through the ninth and finished with a season-high six strikeouts. Brian Fuentes made his Twins debut a successful one, a four-pitch strikeout to notch his 24th save.
Delmon Young added two hits and Danny Valencia scored for the Twins, who have won three in a row and extended their lead over Chicago in the AL Central to four games. The White Sox and Yankees play later Saturday.
Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez collected the lone hits for the Mariners, who suffered their sixth loss in seven.
Doug Fister (4-10) was the hard-luck loser as he scattered six hits and one run over seven innings, fanning six with two walks.
Valencia singled to begin the Minnesota third, advanced on a J.J. Hardy double and scored when Span followed with a base hit.
Meanwhile, Blackburn mowed down the Mariners lineup. He issued a one-out walk in the second inning to Ryan Langerhans then didn't allow another baserunner until a two-out walk to Chone Figgins in the ninth.
That signaled Fuentes' entrance -- his first with the Twins since being acquired from the Angels on Friday -- against Branyan, striking him out swinging to end the game.
Game Notes
Minnesota has won six of nine meetings with Seattle this season...This was Blackburn's first road victory since May 16 at Yankee Stadium...Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson left the game in the second inning with a right ankle sprain...Minnesota DH Jim Thome left the game with back stiffness...It was Seattle's second shutout loss this week, after being blanked 10-0 by the Yankees on Sunday.
<< Afleet Express holds off Fly Down to win Travers
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Afleet Express, ridden by Javier
Castellano, edged a late running Fly Down to capture Saturday's $1 million
Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The time for the 1 1/4-miles was
2:03.28
<< Dallas, Columbus battle to scoreless draw
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas extended its road unbeaten run to
10 Major League Soccer games, and its overall league unbeaten run to 12 games,
by earning a 0-0 draw at Columbus on Saturday afternoon at Crew Stadium.
The game,
<< Laird three clear at The Barclays
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scotland's Martin Laird carded a six-under 65
in the third round Saturday to grab a three-stroke lead at The Barclays.
Laird, who won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last
year, comp
<< Wie, Shin share lead at Canadian Women's Open
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie shot an even-par 72 on Saturday
and was joined in the lead by Jiyai Shin after three rounds of the Canadian
Women's Open.
Shin carded a three-under 69, bouncing back from a pair of bogeys with thr
Browns DB Sorensen leaves game >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Browns defensive back Nick
Sorensen left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury.
Sorensen was hurt in the second quarter when he was blocked by a pair of Lions
defenders on a kickoff.
Victorino, Blanton and bullpen get Phils past Padres >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shane Victorino provided a much-needed
offensive spark with two hits and two RBI for the Phillies, who defeated the
San Diego Padres, 3-1, in the second of three games at PETCO Park.
Victorino, who
Rangers put P Francisco on DL >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers placed closer Frank
Francisco on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained right
latissimus dorsi muscle.
The right-hander suffered the injury in Friday's game aga
Toulouse continues perfect with win over Nancy >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Ligue 1 leaders Toulouse continued its
perfect start to the 2010-11 season with a 2-0 win over Nancy on Saturday.
Midfielders Etienne Capoue and Franck Tabanou scored second-half goals to lead
Toulouse
Sportsbooks that take credit cards are not always easy to come by....Everything from credit card companies denying gambling transactions to the fear of chargebacks by customers has slowed down sportsbook credit card transactions by a high percentage.
There are however still sportsbooks that take credit cards.
When using your credit card it is highly recommended that you try either: MySportsbook.com or Sportsbooks.com. Both sportsbooks have a high rate of accepting credit cards and will save you the time and hassle of looking around the web to make a credit card transaction.
Furthermore, Sportsbooks.com is one of the oldest sportsbooks on the web and Sportsbook offers security in that they are the biggest online sportsbook in the world! Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, they are ROCK SOLID!
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.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting