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07/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Max Scherzer goes after his fifth straight winning decision this evening when the Detroit Tigers start the second half of their season in the first test of a four-game set against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Scherzer won his final two starts before the break and is 4-0 in his last five outings. Over his last four starts spanning 27 2/3 innings, Scherzer has allowed just three runs. He was magnificent against the Baltimore Orioles on July 7, holding the O's to a run and six hits in seven innings to even his record at 6-6, while lowering his earned run average to 4.61.
The 25-year-old right-hander lost to Cleveland back on May 9 in his only other start against the Tribe, yielding five runs and nine hits in five innings of a 7-4 setback.
Detroit had its five-game winning streak stopped on the final day before the break, and with that fell a half-game back of the Chicago White Sox for the top spot in the American League Central. The deficit jumped to a full game after the White Sox's victory on Thursday.
Of course, the Tigers held a 3 1/2-game edge on the White Sox at last year's break, but stumbled in the second half before ultimately falling to Minnesota in a one-game playoff to decide the Central.
If the Tigers are in fact going to win their first division title in 23 years they will have to be better in the second half on the road, where they were just 16-25 before the break.
"It's pretty simple really," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We are going to have to do better in our division and better on the road in the second half if we are going to stay in it."
Detroit gets a chance to improve upon that mark tonight in a place where they have had a lot of success in recent years. The Tigers split a two-game set in Cleveland in May, but they are 8-3 there since the start of last season, while going 20-6 overall in the last 26 meetings.
First baseman Miguel Cabrera may have been the American League's best player in the first half, as the All-Star entered the break tied for the league lead in average at .342 and had the most RBI with 77. His 22 home runs were also two off the pace of Toronto's Jose Bautista for the league lead.
Hoping to slow down Cabrera tonight will be righty Jake Westbrook, who is 5-5 on the year with a 4.75 ERA. Westbrook lost his final start before the break on July 8 to Tampa Bay, giving up five runs and eight hits in six innings.
Westbrook, though, defeated the Tigers the last time he faced them, allowing just a run in 7 2/3 innings back on June 1. He is 5-8 lifetime against them with a 5.69 ERA in 22 games (19 starts).
Nobody could have used the All-Star break more than the Indians, who had played 20 straight games to finish the first half. Cleveland, of course, is in the midst of a rebuilding year and currently sits 34-54, 16 games back of the White Sox.
Cleveland, which lost five of six before the break, has endured a ton of injuries with the likes Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera all sidelined. While Sizemore is done for the year, Choo and Cabrera are nearing a return.
However, those injuries have paved the way for players like Carlos Santana to come to the forefront. Santana hit .284 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 29 games since being recalled.
<< Redick stays in Orlando
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Magic have matched the Chicago Bulls' offer
sheet for J.J. Redick, meaning the shooting guard will remain in Orlando for
the foreseeable future.
The Bulls had given Redick, a restricted free agent, a r
<< Line of Scrimmage: NFL GameChangers '10: Running Backs
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In addition to being three people who have
never been in my kitchen, former NFL running backs Troy Hambrick, Greg Hill,
and Neal Anderson all share another important commonality - they all followed
legends.
<< Oosthuizen moves in front at St. Andrews
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South African Louis Oosthuizen carded
a five-under 67 Friday to move to the top of the leaderboard in the early
stages of the second round at the British Open.
His two-round total of 12-under-pa
<< Lincecum blanks Mets
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum shut out the Mets, becoming
the second-fastest Giants pitcher to win 50 games, as San Francisco posted a
2-0 victory in the opener of a four-game set at AT&T Park.
It took the hard-th
First-place Braves resume series with Brewers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With rookie sensation Jason Heyward back in the outfield
for the Atlanta Braves, things may get a bit easier for the current National
League East leaders. Tonight Heyward and the Braves will resume a four-game
series versus t
Cardinals turn to Garcia versus Dodgers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals hope that rookie starter Jaime
Garcia can duplicate what Chris Carpenter did last night when he takes the
ball Friday in the second portion of a four-game series versus the Los Angeles
Dodgers at Busch
Padres aim to extend division lead in matchup vs. last-place D-Backs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The best team in the National League West, the San Diego
Padres, will begin the second half of the season Friday against the last-place
Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series at Petco Park.
San Diego is
Cubs hope to build off big win in second test with Phils >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs know they have a long and difficult road
ahead of them if they are to get back into contention in the National League
Central. More games like Thursday's second-half opener should make that
journey smoother.
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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