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06/19/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's National League All-Star starter Brad Penny takes another step toward another berth on the mound in the Midsummer Classic tonight, when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit Rogers Centre to open a three-game interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Penny, who was 10-2 at the time of the All-Star Game last year, earned his eighth win of 2007 on Wednesday, when he allowed seven hits and a run in seven innings while topping the New York Mets, 9-1.
He's unbeaten in five starts since a May 18 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, having given up 31 hits and just six runs in 34 innings following his only defeat of the season.
Penny got a no decision against Toronto on June 8, allowing five hits and a run in 7 2/3 innings. He is 1-0 with a 4.24 earned run average in three career starts against the Blue Jays.
Toronto's Dustin McGowan faced the Dodgers in that June 8 matchup and also got a no decision after allowing four hits and two runs in seven innings.
The 25-year-old Georgia native will go opposite Penny again tonight and is unbeaten in three home starts this season, with a 3.98 earned run average over 20 1/3 innings.
McGowan downed San Francisco on Wednesday, winning a 7-4 verdict after scattering seven hits and two runs in six innings.
On Sunday in Toronto, Ryan Zimmerman homered to help the Washington Nationals avoid a three-game series sweep by edging the Blue Jays, 4-2.
Toronto's Frank Thomas made some history in defeat, hitting his 244th home run as a designated hitter to surpass Edgar Martinez on the all-time list. He now has 496 career home runs after going deep in the third inning.
Josh Towers (2-5) absorbed the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits for Toronto, which had a three-game winning streak halted.
In Los Angeles, Howie Kendrick went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored as the Angels pounded the Dodgers, 10-4, in Sunday's finale of the Freeway Series.
Nomar Garciaparra went 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Dodgers. Starter Randy Wolf (8-5) got the loss after being charged with four runs on seven hits in five innings of action.
Los Angeles has lost two straight following a four-game win streak and enters tonight's play 1 1/2 games behind first-place San Diego in the NL West standings.
The Dodgers and Blue Jays met in early June, with Toronto winning two of three in LA. The Blue Jays also won two of three at home versus the Dodgers in 2004.
<< Mets aim to stay in win column against Twins
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-handed surprise Jorge Sosa can get back on the
winning track tonight when the New York Mets host the Minnesota Twins in the
middle contest of a three-game interleague series at Shea Stadium.
Sosa, a 30-year-old Domin
<< Tennis Star's Landmark Anti-Doping Trial Starts
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A Boston law firm has gone to court today to
clear the name of Guillermo Coria, a top-ranked professional athlete who was
suspended from the national tennis circuit in 2001 after testing positive for
steroids. Cori
<< Indiana coach Hoeppner dies
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana University head football coach
Terry Hoeppner died Tuesday morning following a lengthy illness.
Hoeppner, who was 59 years old, twice underwent brain surgery in the last 18
months.
"Coach
<< Tiger becomes a father
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods became a father Monday when his wife, Elin,
gave birth to a daughter.
Sam Alexis Woods is the couple's first child.
"Elin and I are delighted to announce the birth of our daughter, Sam Alexis
Woods,"
Orioles sail into San Diego with new skipper >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dave Trembley era in Baltimore kicks off tonight, when
the slumping Orioles open a three-game interleague series with the San Diego
Padres at Petco Park.
Baltimore became the first club in the 2007 season to fire it
Angels, Astros continue series at Angel Stadium >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim target their fourth
straight win this evening when they play the second of a three-game
interleague set with the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium.
In the opener of this set on Monday, Chone
Reeling Reds face tough test in A's Gaudin >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland pitcher Chad Gaudin tries to keep his unbeaten
streak alive when the Athletics continue a three-game interleague series
versus the Cincinnati Reds this evening at McAfee Coliseum.
Gaudin, who is 6-1 with
A-Rod leads Yankees into Coors Field >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez will take his swings in the rarefied air of
Coors Field when baseball's current home run leader brings the New York
Yankees into Denver for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies.
Both of th
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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