Valencia the hero as Twins beat Tigers in extras

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Valencia's single to center scored Michael Cuddyer with the winning run in the 10th frame, as Minnesota downed Detroit, 2-1, at Target Field.

"Great feeling. My first walk-off hit in pro baseball. It was nice to come in a situation like this," said Valencia. "We are in a pennant race. There are some teams that are right behind us."

Valencia has hit safely in 23 of 27 games at his new home ballpark, finishing as the only Twin with two hits. Jon Rauch (3-1) picked up the victory with a flawless top of the 10th frame. The Twins have won five of six overall, keeping them four games in front of the White Sox in the American League Central race.

Ryan Perry (2-5) was tagged with the loss, giving up two hits in the 10th. Max Scherzer got a no-decision despite giving up just one run on four hits with nine strikeouts and one walk over nine frames.

On the opposite end, Twins starter Francisco Liriano scattered just five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts without allowing a run in seven strong frames.

"It was great pitching performance by both guys. We had opportunities but we had a tough time with that," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland.

The Twins struck first in the fifth with Delmon Young's leadoff double. He moved to third on Valencia's single then Jose Morales skied a fly ball to center. Valencia was doubled off, but Young scored for the 1-0 edge.

Detroit finally got to the Twins staff once Liriano exited after the seventh frame. Austin Jackson singled to start the frame, then after two outs, Miguel Cabrera walked. Jhonny Peralta followed with a single to left to tie the game.

In the 10th, Cuddyer stroked a leadoff single to left, stole second on a close play and raced around to slide in just in front of Jackson's throw that sailed down the third-base line.

Game Notes

The Twins have won 14 of their last 16 home games...The Tigers have dropped four of five overall and are a woeful 3-15 in Minneapolis since the start of the 2009 campaign...Jackson stroked his 30th double of the season...Young recorded his 37th two-bagger of the season.

Rivsls Baseball Betting News

<< Marlins beat down Nationals; Morgan charges mound to start brawl
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wes Helms drove in five runs and Florida blew out the Nationals, 16-10, in a game marred by a benches-clearing brawl in the sixth inning. It was during the top of that frame when Washington center fiel

<< Rangers edge Royals, expand lead in AL West
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mitch Moreland's solo home run leading off the sixth inning proved to be the difference, as the Texas Rangers clipped Kansas City, 4-3, in the rubber match of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium

<< Longoria's clutch hit helps Rays keep pace with Yankees
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria singled in Ben Zobrist with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Rafael Soriano survived a shaky ninth as the Rays edged Toronto, 2-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

<< Teixeira, Burnett lead Yankees past A's
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira continued to swing a hot bat with three hits and three RBI and A.J. Burnett snapped out of an extended funk with six effective innings in a 4-3 Yankees win against Oakland. Burnett (10-12) let i

<< Red Sox use six-run seventh to upend O's
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marco Scutaro hit a two-run homer and Adrian Beltre notched a three-run blast in a six-run seventh inning as Boston rallied past Baltimore, 9-6, in the second of three from Camden Yards. Ryan Kalish, J.D. D

Giants capitalize on eighth-inning miscues by Rockies >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darren Ford scored on a crazy turn of events after a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth frame, as the Giants edged the Rockies, 2-1, at AT&T Park. In a battle of marquee hurlers, Mike Font

Tipsarevic ousts Roddick in second round at U.S. Open >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Andy Roddick suffered one of his earliest exits at the U.S. Open, falling to Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in four sets in a second-round encounter Wednesday night. The ninth-seeded Roddick,

Sounders return to U.S. Open Cup final against Crew >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC booked a spot in the final of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Chivas USA at Qwest Field. Nate Jaqua scored in the 10th minute after a pass from Steve Zakuani, whi

Matsui, Angels use long ball to down Mariners >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hideki Matsui belted the go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and Alberto Callaspo tacked on a solo shot the following frame, as the Angels beat Seattle, 4-2, in the rubber match of a three-g

Marlins P Nolasco done for season; Hayes separates shoulder >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins right-hander Ricky Nolasco will miss the remainder of the season and will have surgery next week to repair torn medial meniscus in his right knee. Nolasco, who is 14-9 with a 4.51 ERA this seas

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


2007 online football betting Preview

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.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

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.

Las Vegas Sports Lines

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.

To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.