Loney's HR in 13th gets Dodgers past reeling Mets
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07/24/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Loney hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 13th to lift Los Angeles to a 3-2 win over New York in the third meeting of a four-game set.
George Sherrill (1-1) tossed a scoreless top half of the frame to earn the win for the Dodgers, who used nine pitchers to win for a third time in their last four tries.
Oliver Perez (0-4), who worked out of a jam in the 12th, suffered the loss after yielding the decisive run in one inning of work for the Mets, who have lost eight of their last 10.
Matt Kemp flied out to open the 13th before Loney blasted a 1-0 offering over the wall in right-center field for his seventh long ball of the year.
The Dodgers had put runners at the corners with nobody out in the 12th but could not score. Elmer Dessens got pinch-hitter Russell Martin to ground out and advance Garret Anderson to second base.
Perez was brought on to face Andre Ethier, who fouled out for the second out before Rafael Furcal was intentionally walked to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll bounced into a force play to end the threat.
Jonathan Broxton, Jeff Weaver and Sherrill combined to retire all 12 New York hitters in extra innings.
Furcal started the home first with a single, moved to third base on an errant Mike Pelfrey pickoff attempt and scored on Xavier Paul's sacrifice fly.
Kemp and Loney followed with singles but Pelfrey escaped further damage by getting two groundouts to end the frame.
New York loaded the bases with one out in the fourth but could not score after Rod Barajas struck out and Pelfrey grounded out.
Blake DeWitt led off the bottom of the inning with a triple and stayed put after Casey Blake struck out and Anderson was intentionally walked. Brad Ausmus then came through with a base hit to plate DeWitt to make it 2-0.
Pelfrey was charged with both runs on six hits and a pair of walks over five innings, while Los Angeles starter Carlos Monasterios went five scoreless frames in his first start since June 18, allowing six hits while walking one and fanning three.
James McDonald opened the sixth on the hill for the Dodgers. and gave up a one-out double to Ike Davis and walked Jason Bay before Barajas singled to left to deliver Davis, cutting the deficit in half.
After a couple of matchup switches, pinch-hitter Jeff Francoeur reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out. Jose Reyes singled to drive in Bay, tie the game, and chase Jack Taschner after he had faced only two batters. Travis Schlichting took over and got Luis Castillo to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Mets' last threat came in the ninth, when David Wright struck out against Broxton with runners at second and third to end the inning.
Game Notes
Barajas left the game in the sixth inning with a strained right oblique...The Mets have been held to four runs or fewer in 14 of their last 15 games and have scored multiple runs in only three of 99 innings since the All-Star break...Wright has scored only one run in his last 14 games and driven in just four over his last 17 games...Reyes went 2-for-5 and has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games...Los Angeles is 6-3 in extra innings games, while the Mets are 4-7...The Dodgers have won seven of the last nine meetings on home soil.
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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