Tigers go for a road win against Price

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07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been over a month since the Detroit Tigers last won a game on the road. A matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays and David Price doesn't seem to bode well for the struggling club's chances of ending that drought.

Price will attempt to become the American League's first 14-game winner when he takes the mound this afternoon for the Rays, who'll be aiming for a series sweep of the fading Tigers when these teams square off again at Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay has taken the first three bouts of this set and dealt Detroit a ninth consecutive road defeat with Wednesday's 7-4 decision. The losing streak is the Tigers' longest in away games since the club dropped 10 in a row from September 16-October 2, 2005.

The Rays, on the other hand, have now won five straight contests and kept pace with the New York Yankees in the race for first place in the AL East as well as the best overall record in baseball. Tampa improved to 62-38 on the year, two games back of the Yankees for the top spot.

Tampa Bay used a 14-hit attack to prevail last night, with Evan Longoria breaking out of an 0-for-18 skid with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate that included a two-run homer. Carlos Pena added an RBI single and ended 2-for-3 on the evening.

The Rays scored five times over the first four innings to help Jeff Niemann (9-3) record his ninth win of the season. The towering right-hander labored through six innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, two of which were homers.

"It's nice to get a win on a night when we probably didn't deserve one," Niemann said. "The defense and offense really helped me out [Wednesday]."

Eddie Bonine (4-1), making his first start of 2010, took the loss for Detroit after being tagged for five runs and eight hits before being removed after 3 1/3 innings.

Johnny Damon went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in the Tigers' latest loss, while Miguel Cabrera came through with a solo shot off Niemann in the top of the sixth.

Detroit has now lost 12 of its last 15 tests and has fallen five games behind front-running Chicago in the AL Central standings. A lack of offense has been one reason for the Tigers' woes, as the team has averaged a mere 2.9 runs per game over that poor stretch.

The Tigers did make a move towards trying to bolster their injury-plagued lineup on Wednesday, acquiring infielder Jhonny Peralta from Cleveland in exchange for minor-league pitcher Giovanni Soto. The 28-year-old is expected to serve as Detroit's third baseman with Brandon Inge likely sidelined for at least another month with a fractured finger.

Tampa Bay will probably sit out two regulars this afternoon, with center fielder B.J. Upton slated to miss a second straight game with a sprained ankle and right fielder Ben Zobrist bothered by a sore back that forced him to leave Wednesday's win after just three innings.

The Rays will have a healthy Price, who enters today's tilt with a glossy 13-5 record and 2.90 earned run average in 19 starts and is presently tied with the New York Yankees' CC Sabathia and Minnesota's Carl Pavano for the AL lead in wins. The 2010 All-Star Game starter has been even more impressive at home, where he boasts a 6-1 mark along with a splendid 2.04 ERA and has held the opposition to a .200 average this season.

The 2007 No. 1 overall pick has won his last three starts at Tropicana Field, but his most recent victory came on the road this past Saturday. Facing the Cleveland Indians, Price allowed three runs and just three hits over seven innings to help the Rays post a 6-3 decision.

Price also performed well in his only previous start against the Tigers, firing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to pick up a win at Comerica Park on August 29 of last season.

Detroit will send out another member of that 2007 first-round class in the finale, with youngster Rick Porcello getting the call for the visitors. The Tigers sophomore hasn't achieved nearly the degree of success Price has this season, however, nor has he been able to build off a very promising rookie campaign of 2009.

A 14-game winner as a 20-year-old last season, Porcello has slipped to a 4-8 record and produced a subpar 5.55 ERA in 15 starts thus far in 2010. Those struggles earned the right-hander a brief banishment to the minors in mid- June, but he's pitched better since returning after the All-Star break.

Porcello yielded just one run and walked none over eight strong innings during a no-decision at Cleveland on July 17, then surrendered three runs in six frames in a home defeat to Toronto on Saturday. It was the fourth straight losing decision for the New Jersey native, who hasn't won in the majors since May 23.

Porcello was sharp in his lone career start versus Tampa Bay, permitting just one run through 5 2/3 innings in a win at Comerica Park last August.

Prior to taking the first three games of this series, the Rays had lost in eight of their last 11 meetings with Detroit. The Tigers swept a three-game set in their lone trip to Tropicana Field last season.

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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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