A-Rod's quest for 500 returns to the Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees have been temporarily cooled off and will begin a six-game homestand with the first of three meetings against the Chicago White Sox this evening in the Bronx.

New York had ripped off six straight wins before dropping the finale of a four-game series with Kansas City and the first two contests of a three-game set against Baltimore. The Yankees, though, salvaged the finale with the Orioles by recording a 10-6 win Sunday at Camden Yards.

Johnny Damon went 3-for-5 with two RBI and four runs scored, while Rodriguez went 0-for-2 and was walked three times.

Rodriguez is still one home run shy of 500 for his career. The 32-year-old is trying to become the youngest player in history to reach that milestone.

Melky Cabrera also had a three-hit day and scored two runs with an RBI for the Yankees, who are four games off the AL wild card lead and eight games behind Boston for the top spot in the American League East division. Starter Chien-Ming Wang yielded nine hits and three runs in six innings for the win.

Taking the ball for the Yankees tonight will be Mike Mussina, who is 5-7 with a 4.77 ERA in 17 starts this season. Mussina was 0-2 in a three-start stretch before earning the win over the Royals on Wednesday, surrendering one run and six hits over 5 2/3 innings of a 7-1 victory.

The right-hander, who is 3-4 in eight starts at Yankee Stadium this season, is 15-16 with four complete games and a 4.63 earned run average in 36 career starts against the White Sox. Mussina is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two starts against Chicago this season.

Meanwhile, the White Sox have lost six of 11 contests and had a three-game winning streak come to an end with Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the finale of a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field.

Chicago's Javier Vazquez was reached for five hits and four runs -- two earned -- with five strikeouts and three walks in 7 2/3 innings to suffer the loss. Vazquez took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning before his outing took a turn for the worse.

Jermaine Dye, who has been the subject of recent trade rumors, homered in the loss for Chicago, which is 12 games off the pace in the American League wild card standings.

Struggling starter Jose Contreras will toe the rubber for the Pale Hose this evening and owns a 5-13 record with a 6.22 ERA in 20 starts this season. Contreras has lost six straight starts and has a 9.41 ERA over that span since his last victory on June 18 versus Florida.

The Cuban righty, who is 2-7 in 11 road starts this season, was reached for nine runs and 12 hits through 4 2/3 innings his last time out, a 13-9 loss to Detroit on Wednesday.

Contreras has lost both of his 2007 starts against the Yankees and is 2-3 with a 2.50 ERA in five career outings against them.

New York is 4-3 against the White Sox this season and 8-5 over the previous 13 encounters between the teams.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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