Yanks should have A-Rod back for finale with Jays

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09/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have put together their longest winning streak of the season without the presence of Alex Rodriguez in their lineup. The All-Star third baseman hopes to provide the American League East leaders a further boost when he makes an expected return to action for this afternoon's clash with the Toronto Blue Jays from Yankee Stadium.

Rodriguez hasn't played since leaving an August 20 contest against Seattle with a strained left calf, but the Yankees haven't been hindered by the three- time AL MVP's absence. New York has gone 11-3 since Rodriguez went on the DL and prevailed for the eighth consecutive time with Saturday's 7-5 triumph over the Blue Jays in the second test of this three-game series.

The surge, coupled with Tampa Bay's loss to Baltimore last night, has moved the Bronx Bombers 2 1/2 games up on the Rays for first place in the AL East as well as the best record in baseball.

Marcus Thames knocked in the deciding runs in Saturday's matchup by belting a tie-breaking two-run homer off Toronto reliever Jason Frasor in the bottom of the seventh inning. The blast followed a two-out single by Robinson Cano, who finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI on the afternoon.

Big. Huge home run," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi about Thames' shot. "Marcus has been a huge addition for us."

Joba Chamberlain, one of five New York relievers for the game, received the win after keeping the Jays off the board in the top of the seventh. Kerry Wood followed with a shutout inning before Mariano Rivera worked a scoreless ninth for his 29th save of the year.

Yankees starter Javier Vazquez lasted only 4 2/3 innings and was reached for five runs while walking four batters. Marc Rzepczynski wasn't any better for Toronto, allowing five runs and issuing three walks before exiting after four innings.

"You can't walk people and expect to survive, especially when you're dealing with a team like the Yankees, Boston or anybody in the East Division," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston remarked. "You have to throw strikes."

The Yankees will be aiming to string together nine straight victories for the first time since May 13-21, 2009 and will have 16-game winner Phil Hughes on the hill for today's finale. The All-Star hurler has compiled a 10-3 record at home during his breakthrough campaign, although he's pitched to a so-so 4.60 earned run average and surrendered 16 homers in 88 innings over those 15 Yankee Stadium starts.

Hughes has an opportunity to atone for a poor outing against the Blue Jays in Toronto on August 25, when the young right-hander was tagged for five runs and walked five while throwing 104 pitches in just 3 2/3 innings to take a loss. He also walked five batters in Tuesday's home assignment against Oakland, but was able to limit the damage to two runs in five innings and got plenty of offensive support in a 9-3 win.

The 24-year-old did come through with 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball to defeat Toronto in the Bronx on August 4 and is 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA in 15 career appearances (eight starts) against Toronto.

Brett Cecil opposed Hughes in that August 25 tilt at the Rogers Centre and helped the Blue Jays to victory by yielding just two runs over eight effective innings. The sophomore lefty has given the Yankees trouble all throughout the year, as he's 2-0 with an excellent 1.64 ERA in three 2010 starts against the defending world champs.

Cecil wasn't as sharp in last Monday's encounter with Tampa Bay, permitting five runs in seven innings during his team's 6-2 setback. Three of those runs wound up being unearned, however, due to one of three errors committed by the Blue Jays on the night.

The 24-year-old, who's 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA over five lifetime meetings with the Yankees, has put together a solid 11-7 record with a 3.74 ERA in 23 starts for the year.

Cecil will be attempting to halt a three-game slide for the Blue Jays, losers of five of their last six tests. Toronto has split 14 bouts with the Yankees this season, with New York having won five of the eight games played between the teams at home.

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2007 online football betting Preview

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.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

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.

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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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