Hamels, Phillies complete sweep of Padres

Baseball Betting Lines

08/29/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cole Hamels pitched eight shutout innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies swept the San Diego Padres in three games with a 5-0 victory at Petco Park.

Hamels (8-10) recorded his first win since July 11 despite pitching very well in the interim. The lefty, who has a 2.46 ERA in his last nine starts, finally earned the win in one of them after allowing just four hits while fanning six without walking a batter.

Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer -- his first with the club -- for the Phillies, who maintained their two-game deficit in the NL East after Atlanta rallied for a 7-6 win over Florida earlier Sunday. They maintained their 1 1/2-game lead in the wild card race over San Francisco, which beat Arizona.

Jayson Werth added a solo shot.

Adrian Gonzalez had three of San Diego's five hits, as the Padres suffered their fourth straight loss -- a season-worst. The Padres, who have the best record in the NL, were swept in a series for only the second time this season.

Clayton Richard (12-6) lost for the first time since July 22 -- a string of six starts and five wins -- after giving up four runs -- two earned -- on four hits and one walk while fanning five in 7 2/3 frames. San Diego was hampered by a season-high four errors.

The Padres' lead in the NL West still stands at a sizeable 5 1/2 games over the Giants.

The Phillies' first seven batters were retired, but the visitors managed a run in the third.

Carlos Ruiz reached on an infield single and moved to second when Richard's pickoff attempt bounced past first base. He went to third on Hamels' groundout and came around to score on Jimmy Rollins' base hit to right.

In the seventh, Werth worked a two-out walk, and Sweeney followed him with a bullet down the left-field line for a two-run homer and a 3-0 advantage.

Philadelphia padded its lead in the eighth when Ruiz singled leading off, moved to second when Hamels reached on an error and scored on Ryan Ludwick's throwing error after a spectacular diving catch in right.

Hamels, who labored through the first two innings -- needing 50 pitches, settled down to shut down the Padres' offense. After allowing a two-out single to Gonzalez in the third, the lefty retired the final 16 batters he faced, using only 65 pitches to finish the final six innings of his outing.

Werth's ninth-inning solo shot accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Phillies have won seven straight in San Diego and won the season series, 5-2...The Padres had won on each of their last 10 Sunday games...Philadelphia has won 10 of its last 11 day games...The Phillies scored more than three runs for the first time since last Sunday against Washington. They had scored three or fewer in six straight contests...San Diego's Chris Denorfia (back) was scratched from the lineup...In this series, Phillies starters went 22 innings and allowed just two runs, an ERA of 0.82...The Padres suffered their first four-game losing streak since August 13-16, 2009.

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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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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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