Rhymes helps Tigers beat Royals in extras

Baseball Betting Lines

09/03/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Rhymes' two-run triple in the 11th highlighted the four-run inning, and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Kansas City Royals, 9-5, in the first of three games at Kauffman Stadium.

Ryan Raburn added his ninth homer in 21 games and drove in two for the Tigers, who have won three of five. Raburn has been on a tear during the 21-game stretch, batting nearly .350 over his torrid streak.

Brandon Inge had two hits and two RBI, while Don Kelly had three hits in the win. Ryan Perry (3-5) earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief after Jeremy Bonderman allowed four runs, seven hits and five walks in a 7 1/3-inning start.

Alex Gordon homered, while Yuniesky Betancourt drove in two runs for the Royals, who have lost five of seven. Zack Greinke had a no-hitter through 4 1/3 frames before faltering, giving up four runs, six hits and two walks while fanning only three in 6 1/3 frames.

Jesse Chavez (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs -- two earned -- in the 11th.

The Tigers surged ahead in the 11th off Chavez.

Alex Avila singled with one away, and Casper Wells reached on an error. Rhymes followed with a drive to the right-center field gap, making it all the way to third on a two-run triple to give Detroit a 7-5 advantage.

After Johnny Damon was intentionally walked, Raburn's single gave the Tigers a three-run lead. Austin Jackson put down a suicide squeeze bunt to score Damon for a 9-5 contest.

Perry finished out the 11th without giving up a run.

The Royals staked Greinke to an early 4-0 lead with a big second inning.

Josh Fields singled, and Gordon worked a walk. Brayan Pena doubled to plate Fields with the game's first run, and, with runners on second and third with one out, Betancourt made it 3-0 with a single to center.

Gregor Blanco's triple to right scored Betancourt to cap the inning.

The Tigers, though, rallied to tie the game in the seventh.

Raburn worked a leadoff walk, and Brennan Boesch followed with a single. Two batters later, Kelly's single loaded the bases with one out.

Inge's base hit to center plated two runners, and Avila kept the hit parade going with another single to score Kelly for a 4-3 game. The Royals finally went to their bullpen, inserting Robinson Tejeda into the game.

Tejeda didn't fare much better, allowing a Wells single. On the play, Inge was unsure if center fielder Blanco would catch it, so he didn't get a good jump from second and was thrown out at home. Two batters later, however, Tejeda uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Avila to score the tying run.

Blake Wood started the next inning, and Raburn greeted him with a rainbow-like home run just inside the left-field foul pole.

Fields nearly answered for the Royals in the home half, but his deep drive off Bonderman was just foul to left. Bonderman eventually struck out Fields and exited in favor of Daniel Schlereth, who immediately gave up the game-tying homer to Gordon.

Game Notes

The Tigers lead the season series, 7-6...Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (biceps) did not play...Raburn hit 27 homers in his first 332 career games...Avila finished with two hits, as did Kansas City's Billy Butler and Chris Getz.

Jinfeist Baseball Betting News

<< Hardy, Span help Twins rally past Rangers
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.J. Hardy and Denard Span had run-scoring singles in the seventh inning to put Minnesota in front, and the Twins held on for a 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers in the opener of a three-game series. The bat

<< Last Second Score Deals Villanova Loss in Wild Opener
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Once again it came down to a field goal. Last year, Villanova kicker Nick Yako was afforded the opportunity to be the hero as he drilled a 32-yard field goal as time expired, giving Villanova a 27-24 win

<< Broncos' Dumervil out for 2010 season
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos linebacker Elvis Dumervil will be placed on injured reserve and miss the entire 2010 season after undergoing surgery last month to repair a torn pectoral muscle. Friday, Dumervil p

<< Printers, Lions beat up on shorthanded Alouettes
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey Printers threw a pair of touchdown passes and British Columbia's defense gave Chris Leak fits in his first pro start as the Lions snapped out of an awful funk in a big way with a 38-17 dismant

<< Garcia beats Reds again as Cardinals end skid
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaime Garcia kept an unbeaten streak against Cincinnati intact with 6 2/3 effective innings and Jon Jay set the tone with a first-inning triple and run scored, as St. Louis slowed the Reds' roll with a 3-2 win

Nadal, Murray cruise into third round in New York >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and fourth- seeded Andy Murray were a pair of easy straight-set winners on Friday in second round action at the 2010 U.S. Open. Nadal needed 2 hours, 44 minutes to p

French solid as Mariners down Indians >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luke French tossed seven one-hit frames and Franklin Gutierrez drove in the only run as Seattle blanked Cleveland in a 1-0 final at Safeco Field. French (4-4) produced a second straight winning turn on

Billingsley does it all as Dodgers down rival Giants >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chad Billingsley was strong through eight innings of work on the hill and drove in the game-winning runs to carry Los Angeles to a 4-2 win over San Francisco in the opener of a three-game series. Billi

D-Backs edge Astros >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Augie Ojeda's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth delivered the winning run as Arizona downed Houston, 4-3, to start a three-game set. Adam LaRoche went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and Gerardo Pa

Giants trade for Sage Rosenfels >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have found a backup quarterback after acquiring Sage Rosenfels from the Minnesota Vikings on Friday. The trade also saw running back and return specialist Darius Reynaud h

Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.


Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards