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07/16/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gordon Beckham hit a solo home run and drove in two as the Chicago White Sox took an 8-7 win over the Minnesota Twins to begin the second half of the season.
Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored while Alex Rios added a pair of sacrifice flies for the White Sox, who are on a nine-game winning streak.
John Danks (9-7) went six innings in the win as he was charged with six runs on nine hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts.
Since June 8, Chicago has won 26 of its last 31 games to surge into first place in the AL Central, one game ahead of Detroit.
Joe Mauer hit a three-run double and went 3-for-5 with a run scored while Denard Span, J.J. Hardy and Nick Punto each had an RBI and a run scored for the Twins, who have dropped five of their last six.
Kevin Slowey was tagged for five runs on nine hits in just three-plus innings. Alex Burnett (1-2) was tagged the loss for giving up three runs in an inning of work.
Chicago plated two runs in the first inning on sacrifice flies from Rios and Carlos Quentin. The White Sox then doubled their lead in the second as Beckham homered and another sac fly from Rios brought home Juan Pierre for a 4-0 lead.
Minnesota, though, surged ahead in the bottom of the second with a six-run frame. With two outs and two on, Hardy, Punto and Span each hit RBI singles. After Orlando Hudson walked to load the bases, Mauer cleared them with a double to left for a 6-4 lead.
Chicago got one back in the fourth when Alexei Ramirez led off with a double and came home when Beckham followed with a single to make it a 6-5 game.
The White Sox then went back on top in the fifth. With men on first and third, Burnett was called for a balk and Quentin came home. A.J. Pierzynski followed with a double to score Mark Kotsay and later scored on a Pierre groundout for an 8-6 lead.
Minnesota got a leadoff double from Orlando Hudson to start the seventh, but the team was unable to bring him home as the next three batters recorded outs.
The Twins then loaded the bases in the eighth with three consecutive two-out singles, but Bobby Jenks was summoned from the bullpen and struck out Hudson to end the inning.
Mauer doubled off of Jenks to start the ninth and Delmon Young brought him home with a two-out single to make it a one-run game, but Jenks got Jim Thome looking at strike three to pick up his 20th save of the season.
Game Notes
Each team has won three games in the season series thus far...Gavin Floyd takes the mound for Chicago on Friday and will be opposed by Francisco Liriano...Danks improved to 5-6 against the Twins.
<< Carpenter masters Dodgers again
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Carpenter pitched eight strong innings
and remained unbeaten against the Dodgers, and the St. Louis Cardinals started
the post All-Star break with a 7-1 win in the opener of a four-game series.
Carpent
<< Nuggets sign Harrington
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets have signed free agent
forward Al Harrington. Terms of the deal weren't released, but it's believed
to be a five-year, $34 million contract.
Harrington averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1
<< Goldberg leads Canadian Tour's Players Cup
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Goldberg shot a six-under 65 to take the
first-round lead Thursday at The Players Cup.
Goldberg had six birdies in a flawless round on the Pine Ridge course to build
a one-stroke lead over Brady Stockto
<< Rangers use big first inning to beat Red Sox
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bengie Molina's two-run home run capped a six-
run first inning as the Texas Rangers downed the Boston Red Sox, 7-2, to start
the second half of the season.
Nelson Cruz went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a r
Pineiro beats former team, Angels down Mariners >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro threw seven solid innings to win
his seventh straight decision and the Angels got three RBI apiece from Erick
Aybar and Bobby Abreu in a 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners to start the post
All-Sta
Twins put Morneau on DL >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin
Morneau was put on the 15-day disabled list following Thursday's 8-7 loss to
the White Sox due to a concussion.
The move is retroactive to July 8. Morneau suffered the i
Lincecum blanks Mets >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum shut out the Mets, becoming
the second-fastest Giants pitcher to win 50 games, as San Francisco posted a
2-0 victory in the opener of a four-game set at AT&T Park.
It took the hard-th
Oosthuizen moves in front at St. Andrews >>
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South African Louis Oosthuizen carded
a five-under 67 Friday to move to the top of the leaderboard in the early
stages of the second round at the British Open.
His two-round total of 12-under-pa
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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Chicago, IL - New Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and star linebacker Brian Urlacher shot down reports of a rift, saying they're simply not true.
"There's nothing between us," Cutler said Thursday, when he reported to training camp. "I just want to put that to rest. There never has been anything between us."
Urlacher added: "I never said what I was quoted as saying and that's it. I have a lot of respect for Jay. I think Jay knows that."
Former Bears receiver Bobby Wade caused a stir when he told Minneapolis radio station KFAN-AM that Urlacher used a profanity while questioning Cutler's manhood during a conversation in Las Vegas last weekend. Wade, who now plays for the Vikings, said Urlacher used a profane version of the word "wimp" during the interview that had to be edited out.
go radio station WSCR-AM also reported that Urlacher had to be restrained from confronting Cutler during organized team activities.
"I wouldn't go face-to-face with Brian, anyway," Cutler said. "No, that's never happened. I've hung out with Brian away from the facility numerous times and we've always gotten along."
Urlacher, noting he was limited by a groin injury, denied the reports in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and did it again when he reported to camp.
"I didn't practice this summer, so I don't know how I would fight the guy if I didn't practice," Urlacher said. "We have no problems. I'm excited about football starting. I'm excited to have him as our quarterback."
Why would Wade say that?
"I don't know," Urlacher said. "Maybe he's jealous because we have a good quarterback now."
Cutler said the first he heard of any friction was when he got a call from Urlacher to clear the air. Urlacher, however, said he had already taken several calls from teammates wondering if the reports were true when Cutler phoned.
"He called me and I said, What's up (expletive), what are you doing?'" a grinning Urlacher said, uttering the same word he allegedly used with Wade. "It's so dumb to me that this even got to this point, but it did and then here we are."
better place after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They have a franchise quarterback for the first time in decades after acquiring Cutler in an offseason trade with Denver. But there are questions about his attitude following a fallout with Broncos management and new coach Josh McDaniels.
His critics include former Bears coach Mike Ditka and former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, one of Smith's mentors. Smith, however, said Cutler has been a model teammate so far while denying any animosity with Urlacher.
"There's no issue with Jay and Brian, except Brian and Jay are both excited about being teammates for our club this year," coach Lovie Smith said. "No more than that. We can't spend a whole lot of time on something that isn't true. I have talked to the players. Whenever something comes out, you have to address it, but it's a non-issue."
In some ways, Cutler is getting a second chance in Chicago, an opportunity to repair his reputation.
Smith said another quarterback - Michael Vick - deserves one, although he doesn't see it happening with the Bears, who lack an experienced backup. The former Atlanta Falcons star, who served a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring, said Thursday he is getting close to signing with a pro football team.
"A second chance, like everyone in society who has paid their debt to society," Smith said. "He deserves a second chance. As far as we're concerned, we like this team that we have right now."
Particularly the new quarterback.
"Me and Brian have been on a good relationship since I've been here, and I expect it to continue that way," Cutler said.
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