Halladay, Wang square off in Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his second start since coming off the disabled list, Roy Halladay will take the mound for the Blue Jays when Toronto takes on the New York Yankees in the second matchup of a four-game stint at Yankee Stadium.

The strong right-hander suffered his second loss of the season in his last start, allowing two runs in six innings against Tampa Bay. However, despite the setback, Halladay has been one of the top pitchers in all of baseball and is currently 10-2 on the season with an outstanding 2.56 ERA.

The Yankees are very familiar with Toronto's ace, however, the team has not enjoyed much success against him, as Halladay has posted a 16-5 ledger with a 2.79 earned run average in 33 appearances against the Bronx Bombers.

As for the Yankees they will turn to Chien-Ming Wang, who has been brutal throughout most of the season. Wang has just one victory in his last 10 appearances, and on the season the right-hander is just 1-6 with an astronomical 10.06 earned run average.

His lone victory came in his last start, as the Taiwanese native led New York to a 4-2 victory over its NL counterpart, the New York Mets. Wang tossed 5 1/3 innings against the Mets, surrendering just two runs on four hits.

Wang has made nine career starts against the Blue Jays, and has a 4-2 record with a 4.63 ERA.

Yesterday, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez each homered as New York doubled up Toronto, 4-2. Mark Teixeira added a hit and an RBI for the Yankees, who have won eight of their last nine.

A.J. Burnett (7-4), facing his former club for the second time in 2009, went seven innings for the win, scattering six hits and two runs, fanning seven with a pair of walks.

"I made just one mistake the whole game," said Burnett. "Everything went well mechanically and as long as I can keep the ball away from the hitters things will go well."

Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs to earn his 21st save.

Vernon Wells collected two hits including a homer and Alex Rios drove in the other run for the Blue Jays, who have dropped six of eight.

Brian Tallet (5-6) lasted six innings in the loss, charged with six hits and three runs -- two earned -- with four walks and three strikeouts.

"Both guys pitched great," said Toronto manager Cito Gaston. "The walks won the game for them and A-Rod hit a big home run for them. I think both teams hit the ball the same way, but they came out on top."

The Yankees won two of three matchups in Toronto from May 12-14 and have won five of the seven most recent meetings between the teams.

Today, of course is the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech and the Yankees will honor one of their greatest players with a video tribute that includes current players reciting portions of his speech, as well as wearing a "4ALS" patch and the No. 4 will be on first base.

The Yankees also will contribute $25,000 to the ALS Association of Greater New York.

BC-AAN;PREVIEW-TOR-NYY

=== Halladay, Wang square off in Bronx ===

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his second start since coming off the disabled list, Roy Halladay will take the mound for the Blue Jays when Toronto takes on the New York Yankees in the second matchup of a four-game stint at Yankee Stadium.

The strong right-hander suffered his second loss of the season in his last start, allowing two runs in six innings against Tampa Bay. However, despite the setback, Halladay has been one of the top pitchers in all of baseball and is currently 10-2 on the season with an outstanding 2.56 ERA.

The Yankees are very familiar with Toronto's ace, however, the team has not enjoyed much success against him, as Halladay has posted a 16-5 ledger with a 2.79 earned run average in 33 appearances against the Bronx Bombers.

As for the Yankees they will turn to Chien-Ming Wang, who has been brutal throughout most of the season. Wang has just one victory in his last 10 appearances, and on the season the right-hander is just 1-6 with an astronomical 10.06 earned run average.

His lone victory came in his last start, as the Taiwanese native led New York to a 4-2 victory over its NL counterpart, the New York Mets. Wang tossed 5 1/3 innings against the Mets, surrendering just two runs on four hits.

Wang has made nine career starts against the Blue Jays, and has a 4-2 record with a 4.63 ERA.

Yesterday, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez each homered as New York doubled up Toronto, 4-2. Mark Teixeira added a hit and an RBI for the Yankees, who have won eight of their last nine.

A.J. Burnett (7-4), facing his former club for the second time in 2009, went seven innings for the win, scattering six hits and two runs, fanning seven with a pair of walks.

"I made just one mistake the whole game," said Burnett. "Everything went well mechanically and as long as I can keep the ball away from the hitters things will go well."

Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs to earn his 21st save.

Vernon Wells collected two hits including a homer and Alex Rios drove in the other run for the Blue Jays, who have dropped six of eight.

Brian Tallet (5-6) lasted six innings in the loss, charged with six hits and three runs -- two earned -- with four walks and three strikeouts.

"Both guys pitched great," said Toronto manager Cito Gaston. "The walks won the game for them and A-Rod hit a big home run for them. I think both teams hit the ball the same way, but they came out on top."

The Yankees won two of three matchups in Toronto from May 12-14 and have won five of the seven most recent meetings between the teams.

Today, of course is the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech a

The Yankees also will contribute $25,000 to the ALS Association of Greater New Y

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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.

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