Strasburg, Nats open second half on winning note

Baseball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Willingham hit a three-run double in the top of the sixth inning, and the Washington Nationals beat Florida 4-0 in the opener of a three-game series at Sun Life Stadium.

Washington rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg and Florida's Ricky Nolasco both held the opposition scoreless through five frames.

Nyjer Morgan and Cristian Guzman started the sixth with back-to-back singles off Nolasco (9-7). Adam Dunn drew a one-out walk to the load the bases, and Willingham cleared them by driving a 1-2 pitch into the right-center field gap, with the former Marlin taking third on the throw home.

Brian Sanches replaced Nolasco and Ivan Rodriguez lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Willingham.

Strasburg (4-2) scattered four hits and walked three while fanning seven over six innings. He lowered his earned run average to 2.03.

Nolasco gave up seven hits and struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings. He had won his previous four starts.

Wwindowsmedia Baseball Betting News

<< Reds open second half by edging Rockies
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bronson Arroyo pitched into the eighth inning and Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs, as the surprising Cincinnati Reds opened the second half of the season with a 3-2 win over Colorado at Great A

<< Glenn shines as Tiger-Cats batter Bombers
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Glenn threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a 28-7 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Ivor Wynne Stadium. DeAndra' Cobb scored on both a rush and a rece

<< Romero bounces back to pitch Jays past Orioles
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricky Romero tossed seven solid innings en route to his first victory in exactly one month, as the Toronto Blue Jays held off the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Camden Yards.

<< Keppinger, Myers lead Astros past Pirates
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Keppinger homered and drove in three runs to support 7 2/3 sturdy innings from Brett Myers in Houston's 5-2 win over the Pirates in the opener of a three-game set. Hunter Pence singled twice, s

<< Covello moves in front at The Players Cup
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vince Covello posted his second consecutive five-under 66 on Friday and moved in front after two rounds of The Players Cup. Covello finished 36 holes at 10-under 132 and is three strokes ahead at Pine

Marte, Kearns homer as Indians rout Tigers >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Marte and Austin Kearns each hit a two- run homer, leading the Cleveland Indians in an 8-2 rout of the Detroit Tigers to begin a four-game series at Progressive Field. Travis Hafner and Trevor Crowe bo

Garrigus joins Bettencourt in first in Reno >>
Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Garrigus fired a seven-under 65 on Friday to join first-round leader Matt Bettencourt in a share of first after the second round of the Reno-Tahoe Open. Garrigus and Bettencourt, who bogeyed his l

Swisher's late heroics help Yankees overcome Rays >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Swisher hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning and singled in the winning run in the ninth, lifting the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on an emotional night at Yankee

Wolf helps Brewers down Braves >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Wolf picked up a rare win against Atlanta, backed by two RBI apiece from sluggers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in a 9-3 Brewers win at Turner Field. Wolf (7-8) turned in six-plus solid frames,

Kouzmanoff, Gonzalez help A's top Royals >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in two runs and Gio Gonzalez tossed seven innings of one-run ball, as the Oakland Athletics handled the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffma

Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

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.