Padres return home to battle Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

08/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres will try to pad their lead atop the National League West standings when they open a three-game series versus the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks tonight from Petco Park.

San Diego is 5 1/2 games in front of San Francisco for the top spot in the division and has won eight of 12 meetings with Arizona this season.

The Padres were able to salvage the finale of a three-game set at Milwaukee with Sunday's 7-3 victory. Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley both homered while Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick both finished with two RBI for San Diego, which has won six of its last eight games.

Jon Garland picked up his 13th win of the season (13-8) by holding the Brewers to two runs on eight hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings.

"It was nice to come through for Jon [Sunday]," Ludwick said after the Padres went 7-3 on a 10-game trek. "Any time you break it open a little bit and get a lead like that for this staff, it's pretty much over. This was a great road trip and it's been tremendous for me to come over here."

The Padres, who will also host Philadelphia for three games on this current homestand, are scheduled to send Clayton Richard to the hill Tuesday. Richard, who has won two straight starts and four consecutive decisions, previously pitched at Chicago's Wrigley Field last Wednesday and allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings of a 5-1 victory.

Richard pushed his record to 11-5 in 25 starts this season to go along with a 3.69 earned run average. The lefty is 1-0 in two career starts against Arizona.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will kick off a six-game road trip against the Padres and Giants and have lost five of the past seven games.

Arizona was aiming for a three-game home sweep of Colorado on Sunday, but suffered a 1-0 loss in the series finale. Dexter Fowler's RBI single in the top of eighth was all the scoring the Rockies would need, while Diamondbacks reliever Aaron Heilman was saddled with the loss.

Dan Hudson started for Arizona and pitched seven shutout innings.

"[Hudson] went out and did what he was supposed to and what he thought he could do," Arizona skipper Kirk Gibson said on the team's site. "He ran out of pitches."

Kelly Johnson, Adam LaRoche and Ryan Church provided the hits for the D'Backs.

Taking the ball for Gibson's club tonight will be Rodrigo Lopez, who is just 5-11 with a 4.94 ERA in 25 starts this season. Lopez has lost his last four decisions and did not figure into the outcome of last Wednesday's 11-7 loss versus Cincinnati. Lopez, a right-hander, allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

He has lasted just five innings in three straight starts and is 2-5 in 11 road outings this season. He is 0-2 with a 4.95 ERA in three career starts against the Padres.

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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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