08/21/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's bad enough that Minnesota is leaving the Twin Cities for its longest road trip in almost 40 years. The cherry on top is that the Twins open the trek against the best team in baseball.
Minnesota heads out west tonight to begin a 14-game, 15-day swing with the opener of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The Twins have dominated in home play this year. They just wrapped up a nine- game homestand with a 7-2 mark and haven't dropped a series at home since the beginning of June. Overall at home this year, Minnesota is 46-23 compared to a 26-31 record as the visiting club. The Twins get an opportunity to improve on their mark, as they will go through Anaheim, Seattle, Oakland and Toronto in the longest trip since 1969.
The Twins are being forced out of town for some time due to the Republican National Convention that will take place from September 1-4.
Minnesota concluded its residency with a 3-1 win over Oakland on Wednesday. Mike Redmond, playing in place of the resting Joe Mauer, had a pair of run- scoring singles, while Justin Morneau also knocked in a run to back five solid innings out of Francisco Liriano. The victory allowed the Twins to stay one game back of the Chicago White Sox for first place in the American League Central.
Mauer should be back in the lineup tonight, as he leads the AL with a .324 average. The catcher is in the midst of a career-high 12-game hitting streak, going 18-for-47 (.383) over that run. Alexi Casilla will also be available for this road trip after being activated off the 15-day disabled list following yesterday's win.
If Minnesota is going to begin its trek on the right foot, starter Scott Baker will have to do something he has never done before -- beat the Angels in their own backyard. Baker is 0-4 with a 7.36 earned run average in five career starts against Los Angeles, and has lost all four of his career starts at Angel Stadium.
The 26-year-old righty has posted four straight no-decisions heading into tonight's start, with the Twins going 2-2 in that span. Minnesota won his last start versus Seattle, with Baker allowing four runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. On the season, he is 7-3 with a 3.91 ERA.
He will oppose John Lackey, who is 10-2 with a 3.22 ERA this year and is riding a four-decision winning streak that has spanned his last seven starts. Lackey defeated Cleveland on Saturday with six innings of three-run, six-hit ball.
The right-hander hasn't lost since July 5 and is 5-5 with a 4.15 ERA in 12 starts lifetime against Minnesota.
The Angels were nearly swept for a second time this year by Tampa Bay, but won the finale of a three-game set with the Rays, 5-4, on Wednesday. Garret Anderson picked a perfect time to extend his hitting streak, driving home the go-ahead run with a single in the ninth inning. Francisco Rodriguez then broke his own team record by posting his 48th save of the season.
Anderson is hitting .365 over his current 23-game run, and is now just five games shy of his personal and franchise-best 28-game hit streak he posted in 1998.
Erick Aybar had a two-run triple and Chone Figgins had two hits with an RBI and a run scored for Los Angeles, which had dropped five of its last six contests coming into the game. The Angels leaped back in front of Tampa for the best mark (77-48) in the majors with the win.
The Angels begin an 11-game homestand tonight and lead the AL West by 15 1/2 games over Texas.
LA won three of four over the Twins in Minnesota on March 31-April 3. The Angels are 9-3 versus the Twins at home since the start of the 2005 season.
<< Lee leads Tribe in finale vs. Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - MLB earned run average leader Cliff Lee will take the hill
today, when the Cleveland Indians host the Kansas City Royals in the finale of
a three-game series at Progressive Field.
Lee, who has won his last six decisions
<< Marlins, Giants close out set by the bay
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins are still searching for consecutive
wins for the first time since the end of July, and will conclude a three-game
series today against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.
The Marlins haven't reco
<< Aiming for career-high 19th win, Webb takes on Padres
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona ace Brandon Webb aims for his major league-leading
and personal-best 19th win of the season tonight, when the NL West-leading
Diamondbacks close out a three-game series versus the San Diego Padres at
Chase Field.
<< Mets go for sweep of rival Braves
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League East-leading New York Mets shoot for
their second sweep in less than two weeks this evening, when they close out a
three-game series versus the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium.
The Mets swept the Washing
A's open four-game series in Seattle >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The good news for Oakland is that the last time it won a
series, it was facing Seattle, its opponent tonight in the opener of a four-
game series at Safeco Field.
The bad news is that four-game series took place from
Phils try to hand Nats 13th straight loss >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phillies have had their share of offensive problems
this year, but they have paled in comparison to the Nationals' struggles.
Philadelphia will try to hand Washington its 13th straight loss and sweep a
three-g
Rams RB Jackson finally in St. Louis >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rams running back Steven Jackson arrived in
St. Louis on Thursday morning, ending his lengthy holdout as his agent and the
club iron out the details on a new contract.
The club's web site, citing team s
CFL Previews - Week 9 (August 21-22) >>
Toronto, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (6-1) AT EDMONTON ESKIMOS (4-3)
DATE & TIME: Thursday, August 21, 9 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: Time has done little to cure what ails the Saskatchewan
Roughriders.
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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