Buehrle dominates as White Sox top Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

06/17/2007 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Buehrle hurled eight innings of one-run ball to lead the Chicago White Sox over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1, at PNC Park.

Buehrle (4-3) scattered nine hits, walked a batter and struck out four to earn the 101st victory of his career. The crafty left-hander threw 113 pitches - 75 for strikes - and has continued to fare well in interleague play since the start of the 2005 season, improving to 6-1 in nine starts against the National League. Ryan Bukvich worked a perfect ninth.

Josh Fields provided the majority of the offense, clubbing a two-run homer and adding a run-scoring double for the Sox, who snapped a six-game skid on the road, and a four-game losing streak overall.

John Van Benschoten (0-1), who made his first major league start in almost three years, yielded two runs on three hits, walked three and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings in the loss. The 2001 first-round draft pick is taking the spot of Shawn Chacon, who was recently moved to the bullpen.

The right-handed Benschoten has spent most of his time rehabbing from operations on both shoulders since going 1-3 with a 6.91 ERA in six games (five starts) for Pittsburgh in 2004.

Ryan Doumit had a pair of hits and knocked in the lone run for the Pirates, who have dropped two of three.

The White Sox jumped on Van Benschoten for a pair of runs in the second to grab the early lead. Jermaine Dye drew a one-out walk, Alex Cintron's single moved him to third, and Rob Mackowiak's groundout scored Dye. Fields followed with a double to left, plating Cintron to make it 2-0.

The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the frame, as Adam LaRoche doubled and scored on Doumit's two-out single.

Chicago added two more in the seventh, as Mackowiak legged out a bunt single and Fields slugged a two-run homer to left-center.

A.J. Pierzynski singled, Paul Konerko followed with a double, and after Cintron was intentionally walked with one out, Mackowiak's sac fly scored Pierzynski to make it a 5-1 margin in the eighth.

Tadahito Iguchi's RBI double in the ninth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Buehrle has won both career starts against the Pirates, with the first one coming last June 27...The White Sox have not lost seven straight road games since dropping eight in a row from May 15-23, 2001...Pirates manager Jim Tracy missed the game and will also be absent for the series finale on Sunday to attend college graduation ceremonies for his son. Bench coach Jim Lett is the acting manager in his absence...Attendance was 36,610.

Wwwsportsinteraction Baseball Betting News

<< Zambrano loses no-hitter, game to Padres; Lee and Young brawl
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Branyan hit a home run in the ninth inning as the San Diego Padres broke up Carlos Zambrano's no-hit bid with one out in the eighth inning and held on to defeat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 at Wrigley

<< Shaughnessy captures inaugural Barcelona title
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy captured the inaugural $145,000 Barcelona KIA tennis event after defeating Romanian Edina Gallovits in Saturday's final. The 28-year-old Shaughnessy breezed past

<< Angels' Anderson and Kotchman leave game
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angels left fielder Garret Anderson and first baseman Casey Kotchman both left Saturday's game versus the Dodgers early with injuries. Anderson left the game in the second inning for a pinch-hitter

<< Baddeley leads Woods at U.S. Open
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Baddeley will carry a two-shot lead over Tiger Woods into the final round of the U.S. Open after shooting an even-par 70 Saturday at a tamer Oakmont. Baddeley, an Australian transplant living in Ari

<< Angels blank Dodgers; Kotchman, Anderson hurt
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Weaver tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings to win his fifth consecutive decision as the Angels blanked the Dodgers, 3-0, in the latest edition of the Freeway Series. Orlando Cabrera had tw

Phillies hold off Tigers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamie Moyer pitched seven strong innings, as the Philadelphia Phillies held off a ninth-inning rally and topped the Detroit Tigers, 6-3, in the second of a three-game set. Moyer held the powerful Ti

Columbus rallies to tie New England >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alejandro Moreno scored on a diving header in the 85th minute as Columbus rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-3 draw with New England on Saturday. Moreno's spectacular effort was off a cross from Gu

Griffey, Ross each go deep twice as Reds rip Rangers >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ken Griffey Jr. and David Ross each belted two homers, overshadowing Sammy Sosa's quest to 600, as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Texas Rangers, 8-4, at Great American Ballpark. Griffey hit a solo homer

Brewers top Twins to win fourth straight >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Hart knocked in a pair of runs in the seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, in the middle contest of a three-game interleague set Dave Bush (4-6) tossed 6 1/3 i

Oregon State, Arizona State post wins in CWS >>
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oregon State and Arizona State won their opening games in the College World Series on Saturday. The Beavers, the defending national champions, got a pair of hits and two RBI from Scott Santschi and held off

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."

Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

Get all your baseball betting lines, MLB lines and MLB team props at the My Sportbook.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your baseball sportsbook needs.