05/09/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of American League West members on good recent rolls begin a three-game series tonight in the Lone Star State, where the Texas Rangers take on an Oakland Athletics squad in search of a fifth consecutive victory.
Oakland enters this set off a three-game home sweep of Baltimore that culminated with an extra-inning win on Wednesday. Mark Ellis provided the heroics, as the second baseman slugged a walkoff solo homer with two outs in the 10th inning to lift the Athletics to a 6-5 triumph.
Ellis also had a single, walk, and a stolen base, while Kurt Suzuki finished 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored for the A's.
Dallas Braden earned the win for Oakland after delivering 2 1/3 outstanding innings of relief. The left-hander did not allow a run or a hit during his time on the mound.
Texas has ripped off seven victories in its last nine contests and took the final three tests of a four-game home series with slumping Seattle. The Rangers posted shutouts in each of the two most recent wins, including Thursday's 5-0 decision.
Ramon Vazquez finished 4-for-5 and Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer for Texas in a game marred by an ugly benches-clearing fracas in the fourth inning.
The incident began when Rangers starter Kason Gabbard threw up and in on the Mariners' Richie Sexson, who charged the mound and flung his helmet at the left-hander as both benches emptied. Gabbard wound up leaving the game with bruised legs as a result of the skirmish.
Franklyn German (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out three in 1 2/3 innings in relief of Gabbard to pick up the victory.
Tonight's series opener features a pitching rematch of the most recent meeting between these divisional foes, with rookie standout Greg Smith taking the mound for the Athletics and Scott Feldman getting another start for the Rangers.
Smith baffled the Rangers in this past Sundays 3-1 Oakland victory, although the young left-hander couldn't garner enough run support to come out with a win. He held Texas to one run and three hits over the first six innings, while racking up a career-best 10 strikeouts before reaching his pitch count. The A's were trailing, 1-0, at the time of Smith's departure.
The 24-year-old has yielded two runs or less in each of his last three starts and has compiled an outstanding 2.54 earned run average in six outings since joining Oaklands rotation in early April.
Feldman, who was making just his second big league start on Sunday, also pitched well before running into trouble late. The converted reliever shut the As out over the first six innings but was touched for three runs in the seventh to be saddled with the loss. He finished with a line of six hits allowed and five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings of work.
The 25-year-old, now 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA in six overall appearances against Oakland, has been moved into a startling role due to recent injuries to regular rotation members Jason Jennings and Luis Mendoza.
Texas took two of three from the A's last week at McAfee Coliseum and went 6-3 against Oakland in Arlington last season.
<< 2008 All-NBA Teams List
F - Kevin Garnett, Boston (118), 612F - LeBron James, Cleveland (117), 610C - Dwight Howard, Orlando (86), 546G - Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers (127), 635G - Chris Paul, New Orleans (124), 629Second TeamF - Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas (1), 189F - Tim Duncan, S
<< Thursday's NBA Playoff Boxes
CLEVELAND (73)James 6-24 9-13 21, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Ilgauskas 9-12 1-2 19, West 1-5 1-2 3, Szczerbiak 4-11 4-4 13, Varejao 1-5 1-2 3, Smith 2-7 0-0 4, Gibson 0-2 2-2 2, Pavlovic 2-4 0-0 5, D.Brown 1-3 0-0 2, Dw.Jones 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 26-73 19-27 7
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Red Sox make trip to Metrodome >>
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powerhouses start up a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins that begins
this evenin
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White Sox start trip at Safeco >>
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Jazz need a win in Game 3 versus Lakers >>
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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets
With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship. Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92. After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points. Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1. Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years. With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed. UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern. Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier. OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak. Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta. But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.
Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props. Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000. Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.
MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:
| EAST | National Championship | Region |
| Arkansas | 300-1 | 50-1 |
| Belmont | 1000-1 | |
| Boston College | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Eastern KY | 1000-1 | |
| George Washington | 75-1 | |
| Georgetown | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| Marquette | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Michigan State | 100-1 | 25-1 |
| New Mexico St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| UNC | 6-1 | 6-5 |
| Oral Roberts | 500-1 | |
| Texas | 15-1 | 5-1 |
| Texas Tech | 200-1 | 5-1 |
| USC | 75-1 | 20-1 |
| Vanderbilt | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Washington State | 40-1 | 15-1 |
| WEST | ||
| Duke | 50-1 | 10-1 |
| Florida A&M | 1000-1 | |
| Gonzaga | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Holy Cross | 300-1 | |
| Illinois | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Indiana | 75-1 | 40-1 |
| Kansas | 5-1 | 13-10 |
| Kentucky | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Niagara | 1000-1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 40-1 | 8-1 |
| Southern Ill. | 50-1 | 12-1 |
| UCLA | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| VCU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Villanova | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| VA Tech | 50-1 | 15-1 |
| Weber St | 1000-1 | |
| Wright St | 1000-1 | 300-1 |
| MIDWEST | ||
| Arizona | 50-1 | 30-1 |
| Butler | 40-1 | 30-1 |
| Davidson | 300-1 | |
| Florida | 4-1 | 4-5 |
| Georgia Tech | 75-1 | 25-1 |
| Jackson State | 1000-1 | |
| Maryland | 30-1 | 6-1 |
| Miami-OH | 300-1 | |
| Notre Dame | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| ODU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Oregon | 40-1 | 6-1 |
| Purdue | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Texas A&M CC | 1000-1 | |
| UNLV | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Winthrop | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Wisconsin | 15-1 | 7-2 |
| SOUTH | ||
| Albany | 200-1 | |
| BYU | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Central CT St. | 1000-1 | |
| Creighton | 100-1 | 35-1 |
| Long Beach St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| Louisville | 40-1 | 10-1 |
| Memphis | 30-1 | 4-1 |
| Nevada | 75-1 | 35-1 |
| North Texas | 500-1 | |
| Ohio State | 7-1 | 6-5 |
| Penn | 500-1 | |
| Stanford | 200-1 | 50-1 |
| Tennessee | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| Texas A&M | 12-1 | 11-5 |
| Virginia | 75-1 | 18-1 |
| Xavier | 100-1 | 40-1 |
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