A's silence Rangers, take rubber match

Baseball Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daric Barton finished 2-for-3 with an RBI as Oakland topped Texas, 4-1, in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Eric Patterson homered while Ryan Sweeney and Kevin Kouzmanoff also drove in runs for the Athletics, who took the series but won for just the fourth time in their last 11 games.

Trevor Cahill (1-1) earned his first win of the season by scattering five hits and one unearned run over five-plus innings. Andrew Bailey picked up his fifth save with a scoreless final frame.

Vladimir Guerrero drove in the lone run and Elvis Andrus collected a pair of hits for the Rangers, who dropped the final two games in the set after winning four in a row.

Colby Lewis (3-1) suffered his first setback of the season after being charged with five hits and three runs over six innings.

Already ahead by two, the A's picked up an insurance run off Darren Oliver in the seventh. Rajai Davis singled and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Cliff Pennington, then stole third before Barton's single up the middle plated him.

Brad Ziegler sent down the side in order in the eighth, then Bailey did the same in the ninth to lock up the victory.

Oakland got on the board in the second, thanks to a pair of RBI groundouts from Sweeney and Kouzmanoff. Pennington got the frame started with a single then Barton stroked a ground-rule double to put two men in scoring position.

Patterson then led off the fifth with a blast to right-center for a 3-0 game.

Texas picked up a run in the sixth. Michael Young reached on Kouzmanoff's throwing error and Josh Hamilton singled, which put runners on the corners and brought the end to Cahill's outing for Tyson Ross.

Guerrero followed with a base hit to plate Young, but Ian Kinsler's double- play ball and a grounder from David Murphy kept it a 3-1 game.

Game Notes

Oakland had won 11 of the 19 meetings with Texas a year ago, and has taken four of the last six against the Rangers on the East Bay...Bailey has yet to allow a run this season and has worked 20 2/3 scoreless frames since last September 6...The A's improved to 8-3 in day games this season...Texas was held to two runs or fewer for just the second time in its last 15 contests.

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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.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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