Blue Jays flying high, aim for another win over Yanks

Baseball Betting Lines

07/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a chance to make up some ground in the American League East standings, the New York Yankees forgot to bring their offense with them as they opened a three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. They'll attempt to rebound when the division rivals face off again this afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

With both Boston and Tampa Bay both coming out on the losing end of their respective games on Friday, the Bronx Bombers had the perfect opportunity to close the gap at the top of the standings, but instead the club simply bombed. The Yankees had a total of just two hits, a double by Derek Jeter and a single from Alex Rodriguez, in the 5-0 loss.

Although he suffered his third loss in five decisions, Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain still pitched well, with three runs allowed on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. The young hurler also fanned nine without walking a batter, yet still could not keep up with Toronto ace Roy Halladay.

Halladay was spectacular during his complete-game effort, allowing just the two hits and a walk while striking out eight as he lowered his earned run average down to 2.71 in the process.

Matt Stairs and Rod Barajas both posted home runs, the former plating three runs altogether, while Lyle Overbay and Adam Lind tallied three and two hits, respectively, for Toronto.

Now winners of four straight, the Jays are just a game under .500 but still 9 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East, compared to 6 1/2 games out for the Yankees.

Following a bit of a shakeup in the rotation, the Yankees now have Darrell Rasner slated to start this afternoon. A product of Nevada-Reno, the Silver State native has hit the skids in recent weeks, losing three straight decisions and seven of his last eight since beginning 2008 with three consecutive victories.

The right-hander was knocked around for six runs on 10 hits and a trio of walks, while striking out two and hitting a batter in five innings versus Boston on the Fourth of July.

Rasner, who is 1-0 in his career versus the Blue Jays, has been unable to get beyond the fifth inning in any one of his last five games.

As for Toronto, the squad is countering with Jesse Litsch on the mound today. The right-hander, who is 0-1 this season versus the Yankees and has a 1-2 record in four career games against New York, was also involved in some tweaking in his team's rotation and was pushed back a day.

Litsch began the season quite strong, with seven wins in eight decisions, but since the start of June the Jays have lost all but one of the seven games in which he has started.

Most recently Litsch was pounded for eight hits and six runs in just 5 1/3 innings versus the Angels in a 7-1 setback on Sunday. Litsch tallied just two strikeouts and hit a batter for the second straight outing.

Toronto continues to have trouble finding power in the lineup, placing second- to-last in the AL in home runs with just 64 over the course of 93 games. However, the Jays pitching staff has done well enough to keep the squad in contention more often than not, having posted a 3.66 ERA (third-best in the AL).

Over the last six games the Yankees have hit the skids in terms of offense, batting a collective .215 with a mere two home runs (Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera). Cabrera has just three other hits in his last 22 at-bats, while Jeter has had to accept two doubles in his last eight hits.

The Yankees have won four of seven meetings with Toronto this year.

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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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