05/14/2008 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marino Salas, a 27-year-old making his major league debut the same day he was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and picked up his first career win in Pittsburgh's 8-4, 10-inning win over the Cardinals, the opener of a three- game set.
Ronny Paulino put the Pirates on top with an RBI single, and Adam LaRoche blew the game wide open with his bases-clearing double. Starter Phil Dumatrait gave up four hits and three runs in six innings, fanning four and walking three for the Pirates, who have won seven of eight.
Ron Villone (0-1) was ripped for four hits and four runs in the 10th to take the loss for the Cardinals, who have dropped three straight and six of seven. Albert Pujols belted a game-tying homer in the eighth for St. Louis. Starter Kyle Lohse gave up five hits and four runs in seven frames.
Salas (1-0) made things interesting in the ninth, walking Aaron Miles to start the frame. Pinch-hitter Adam Wainwright bunted Salas up to second, and Salas then intentionally walked Skip Schumaker. The rookie fanned Brendan Ryan, bringing Pujols to the plate.
Salas wisely walked the St. Louis first baseman, and got Ryan Ludwick to fly out to right the send the game to extras.
The Pirates jumped on top with four runs in the 10th off of Villone. Freddy Sanchez laced a leadoff single to right, and Nate McLouth bunted him up to second. Jason Bay was intentionally walked, and Paulino came through with a line drive single to center, scoring the go-ahead run. Xavier Nady then worked a walk, loading the bases for LaRoche, who stroked a drive into the gap in left-center for a four-run lead.
Matt Capps set the Cards down in order in the home half of the 10th to lock up the win.
Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit left after one inning with a left thumb injury.
A pitch from Dumatrait hit the catcher on the thumb of his glove and skidded past him for a passed ball in the first. Troy Glaus flied out to right, sparing Doumit from having to catch another ball. He was then lifted for a pinch-hitter in the second, as Paulino came on and took his spot behind the plate.
McLouth got the Bucs started in the fourth, following a Sanchez single with a blast to right, boosting the Pirates to a 2-0 lead.
Glaus erased the deficit with one swing, belting a three-run homer to center with two outs in the sixth, and the Cards took a one-run edge.
The Pirates came right back with two runs in the seventh, though. Bay led off with a ground-rule double to right, and Paulino plated him with the tying run on his two-bagger to right. Nady grounded out and LaRoche walked to put runners at the corners, and Jose Bautista poked a single to center to score Paulino, and the Bucs led 4-3.
John Grabow hung a changeup low and over the middle of the plate to Pujols with one out and the bases empty in the eighth, and the Cards first baseman deposited it deep in the seat in left, knotting the game at 4-4.
A Nady double, an intentional walk to LaRoche, and a two-out walk by pinch- hitter Doug Mientkiewicz loaded the bases in the ninth against Ryan Franklin, but pinch-hitter Chris Gomez popped up to first, preserving the tie.
Game Notes
Salas was called up after the Pirates optioned righthander John Van Benschoten to Indianapolis on Tuesday. Van Benschoten was demoted to the minors after losing to Atlanta on Monday. The 28-year-old surrendered nine hits and six runs in four innings, raising his earned run average to 9.39 and dropping his record to 0-2 on the season...The Cards left nine runners on base.
<< Cain does it all as Giants nip Astros
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Cain allowed just two runs over
eight innings and hit his second home run of the year as the San Francisco
Giants edged the Houston Astros, 4-2, in the second of a four-game set at AT&T
Par
<< Drew, D'Backs down Rockies
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Drew clubbed a three-run home
run to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks past the Colorado Rockies, 8-4 in the
opener of a three-game set.
Orlando Hudson went 2-for-4, knocked in two runs and s
<< Hornets push Spurs closer to elimination with blowout win
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David West had career playoff-highs of 38
points and 14 rebounds, and the New Orleans Hornets continued their success at
home with a 101-79 win over San Antonio, pushing ahead after five games of
their W
<< Litsch gets fifth win as Toronto beats Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jesse Litsch notched his fifth win and the
Toronto Blue Jays got their offense going with 10 hits to defeat the Minnesota
Twins, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game series at the Metrodome.
Litsch (5-1) wen
Report: Henin to retire >>
Brussels, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgian Justine Henin, the world's top-
ranked women's tennis player, will reportedly announce her retirement on
Wednesday.
The newspaper Het Nieuwsblad reported that the 25-year-old Henin, who has a
16-
Knicks hope D'Antoni helps present and future >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Before giving Mike D'Antoni a job, Donnie Walsh gave him a warning.The Knicks president told D'Antoni and all the candidates he interviewed for his team's coaching position that his goal was a difficult one: Find a way to turn a loser
Tuesday NHL Playoff Summary >>
Pittsburgh 2 0 2-4Philadelphia 1 0 0-1First Period-1, Pittsburgh, Whitney 1 (Crosby, Gonchar), 5:03 (pp). 2, Pittsburgh, Hossa 7 (Crosby), 7:41. 3, Philadelphia, Umberger 10 (Prospal, Briere), 10:59. Penalties-Hatcher, Phi (hooking), 3:33; Kennedy
Tuesday's NHL Playoff Sum >>
Pittsburgh 2 0 2-4Philadelphia 1 0 0-1First Period-1, Pittsburgh, Whitney 1 (Crosby, Gonchar), 5:03 (pp). 2, Pittsburgh, Hossa 7 (Crosby), 7:41. 3, Philadelphia, Umberger 10 (Prospal, Briere), 10:59.Second Period-None.Third Period-4, Pittsburgh, M
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.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.