Twins aim to extend win streak versus Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- The Minnesota Twins will attempt to extend their current winning streak to four games when the American League Central front-runners take on a team they've had plenty of success against this season, the Kansas City Royals, this afternoon in a Labor Day matinee from Target Field.

The Twins head into the opener of this three-game series off an impressive home sweep of AL West-leading Texas over the weekend, taking all three matchups with the Rangers to continue their tremendous recent play at Target Field. In Sunday's finale, Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer both knocked in two runs and Minnesota staved off a late Texas rally to hold on for a 6-5 victory.

Twins starter Nick Blackburn did his part as well, yielding just two runs and six hits over the first seven innings to even his season record at 9-9. The right-hander had to sweat out the win, however, after the Rangers scored three times off relievers Jon Rauch and Matt Capps in the top of the ninth.

An RBI double by Julio Borbon and Cristian Guzman's run-scoring single off Capps in the ninth brought Texas within 6-4, and Michael Young followed with a two-out base hit before David Murphy walked to load the bases. Vladimir Guerrero then delivered an infield single to plate Guzman for a one-run game, but Young was called out for runner's interference on the play after making incidental contact with third-base coach Dave Anderson while rounding the bag.

The controversial call enabled the Twins to win for the 16th time in their last 19 games at Target Field, where the team has amassed an excellent 45-23 record for the season, and remain 3 1/2 games ahead of Chicago for first place in the AL Central. The White Sox swept a three-game set at Boston this past weekend.

"They're a really good team," Minnesota shortstop J.J. Hardy said of the Rangers. "These weren't easy games. Two of them were one-run ballgames. It was really nice to get out there and get that win [Sunday]."

Kansas City, on the other hand, is an unimpressive 26-42 on the road so far in 2010 and has lost eight of its past 12 overall. The non-contending Royals were able to halt a three-game skid, however, by edging Detroit by a 2-1 count Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

Alex Gordon's leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 1-1 deadlock and rewarded teammate and starting pitcher Kyle Davies (7-9), who worked the first six frames and surrendered just one run and three hits. The blast came on the first pitch Gordon saw from Tigers reliever Brad Thomas.

"Just be aggressive," Gordon said when asked of his approach during the at- bat. "That's what I did. I got my fastball to hit and I was able to do something with it."

Gil Meche and Robinson Tejeda protected the one-run lead with a scoreless inning of relief each, with closer Joakim Soria retiring the side in order in the ninth to register his 37th save of the season.

Soria hasn't had too many save opportunities when facing the Twins this season, however. Minnesota is 9-3 against the Royals in 2010 and has won four of six meetings with Kansas City held in Minneapolis as well. In the last series between these divisional foes, the Twins outscored the Royals by a 36-7 in taking all three tests from July 26-28.

Kevin Slowey, who'll be toeing the rubber for Minnesota this afternoon, has also fared well when facing the Royals in the past. The right-hander owns a 5-1 record with a 3.19 earned run average in seven career appearances (six starts) against today's opponent and tossed seven shutout innings of three-hit ball to defeat Kansas City at Target Field back on June 8.

Slowey will be making his first start since an August 21 home loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, having spent the past two-plus weeks on the disabled list with a strained triceps. He lasted only three innings in that outing and was reached for four runs on seven hits, two of which were homers.

Prior to that setback, Slowey had no-hit the Oakland Athletics through seven innings in an August 15 win, but was removed by manager Ron Gardenhire after exceeding his pitch limit.

Sean O'Sullivan gets the call for Kansas City today for his first-ever encounter with the Twins. The young right-hander, acquired in a trade with the Angels in late July, hasn't made a very good impression on his new club during his short stay in Kansas City

O'Sullivan is 1-4 with a bloated 6.59 ERA in eight games (seven starts) since the swap and allowed four or more runs in five of those assignments. He's also served up nine homers -- including three in a no-decision against Texas on Tuesday -- in a combined 41 innings pitched with the Royals.

The 23-year-old permitted six runs total in five innings versus the Rangers and is 1-3 with a 5.45 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance on the road this year.

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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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