Rockies visit Padres for clash of slumping contenders

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09/03/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Colorado Rockies are going to return to the postseason, they need to turn it around soon. This weekend would be a good start, as they begin a three-game series against the National League West- leading San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Colorado enters the weekend set 7 1/2-games back of the Padres. However, the Rockies could be catching San Diego at the right moment, as the Padres have dropped a season-high seven in a row.

"Things aren't going our way," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "We will spin out of it."

Colorado, which is 6 1/2 back of Philadelphia in the Wild Card race, has also won eight of its 12 meetings with the Padres in 2010, including wins in four of the six matchups in San Diego. That trend could continue this evening, as the Rockies will be facing a pitcher making his major league debut in left- hander Cory Luebke.

Luebke, the 63rd overall selection of the 2007 draft, has dominated the minors while splitting the season between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A Portland, posting a 10-1 record with a 2.68 ERA in 19 outings (17 starts) before his contract was selected by the Padres when rosters were expanded on Wednesday.

"I'm just going to take it a start at a time," Luebke said. "[Black] let me know I was pitching Friday, so I'll get myself ready on Friday and whatever this team needs me to do."

San Diego had its lead over San Francisco trimmed to three games with a disappointing 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

The usually reliable San Diego bullpen gave up four runs after starter Mat Latos gave up a run and four hits in six full frames and matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts. Latos, 22, has now yielded two runs or less in 14 straight outings, a feat last accomplished by Greg Maddux 16 years ago.

"Our bullpen, I believe, is the best in the National League," Black said. "Let's leave it at that."

Colorado, meanwhile, watched Philadelphia overcome a four-run deficit by crossing the plate nine times in the seventh inning on Thursday. The Rockies made things interesting, scoring four more runs after that, but came up short in a 12-11 loss.

Carlos Gonzalez continued his hot hitting by belting his 31st home run amid a 3-for-5 night. Chris Iannetta and Dexter Fowler slugged second-inning home runs and knocked in three runs apiece for Colorado, which has lost three straight after winning seven of eight.

A combination of Joe Beimel, Reynolds and Manny Delcarmen (0-1), who was making his Rockies debut, were responsible for the seventh-inning meltdown.

Taking the ball for the Rockies this evening will be Aaron Cook, who is expected to be activated from the disabled list prior to tonight's start. Cook has not pitched since spraining his right toe in a loss to the Giants back on August 3.

Cook has lost his last three starts, though, surrendering 15 runs in just 9 2/3 innings of those outings. He is 4-8 with a 5.34 ERA on the season.

"If Aaron Cook is really good, then obviously there's the possibility of keeping Cookie in the rotation," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "But I wanna see the guy pitch. The worst thing in the world for you is trying to run somebody down in the Wild Card and/or division and getting pitched out of a game in the second or third inning. That's really not an option if that can happen on any type of consistent basis."

Cook has been terrific in his career against the Padres, having gone 13-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 24 games (22 starts). He is also an impressive 6-1 in 10 starts at Petco.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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