Weaver flirts with no-no as Halos edge ChiSox

Baseball Betting Lines

05/14/2008 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jered Weaver threw seven innings of one-hit ball, and Mike Napoli's sacrifice fly drove in the winning run, as the Los Angeles Angels earned a 2-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Weaver actually had a no-hitter through four frames, but had thrown more than 70 pitches in the span and ended up with a no-decision. He struck out six and walked two. Scot Shields (2-0) threw a scoreless eighth and got the win.

Robb Quinlan went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Garret Anderson added a pair of hits for the Angels, who have won the first two games of this four-game set.

John Danks scattered seven hits in 6 1/3 innings for Chicago, which has lost three in a row and 10 of 14. Octavio Dotel (1-2) bailed out Danks by getting the last two outs of the seventh with the bases loaded, but gave up one single to lead off the eighth inning and was on the hook for the loss.

Carlos Quentin, A.J. Pierzynski and Joe Crede had the White Sox's three hits.

The Angels had a tremendous opportunity to put up some runs in the seventh inning. Quinlan and Juan Rivera hit consecutive one-out singles, and Danks walked Gary Matthews to load the bases.

But Dotel came out of the bullpen and struck out Erick Aybar for the second out, and fanned Vladimir Guerrero on a breaking ball off the plate to end the threat.

However, the Angels were in a similar situation in the eighth, and took advantage. Torii Hunter led off with a single, and Anderson followed by looping the ball to right field.

Anderson jogged slowly to first base, as it appeared Jermaine Dye might make the catch. But Dye didn't get a good enough jump, and couldn't get to the ball, which bounced off the tip of his glove and foot and rolled to the right field line.

The play allowed Hunter to advance to third, and Napoli brought him in with a sacrifice fly. Anderson went to second and later scored on a Quinlan single for a 2-0 Angels lead.

Francisco Rodriguez came on to close out the game, and worked around a Quentin double to earn his 16th save of the season.

Weaver stifled the Chicago offense early, allowing just two baserunners -- on a pair of walks -- in the first four innings. He allowed a leadoff single to Pierzynski in the fifth, but worked out of the inning from there, and threw perfect sixth and seventh innings.

Meanwhile, the Angels had at least one baserunner in each of the first six innings, but none of them advanced past second base.

Game Notes

With the win, the Angels took the lead in the all-time series between the clubs, at 327-326...LA stranded 10 runners...Wednesday's matchup features Chicago's Jose Contreras and the Angels' John Lackey, who is expected to make his first start of the season.

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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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