CC seeks ninth straight win as Yankees open set with Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CC Sabathia has been nearly unbeatable for the New York Yankees over the past two months. With a matchup against the Kansas City Royals next on tap for the All-Star hurler, that string of success doesn't figure to change.

The Yankees ace sets his sights on claiming a ninth consecutive victory and becoming the American League's first 13-game winner when he takes the mound for the Bronx Bombers in tonight's opener of a four-game series with the Royals from Yankee Stadium.

Sabathia closed out his first half with a sensational eight-start run in which the big left-hander won every one of those outings and yielded three runs or less each time. That streak came to an end when he was reached for four runs (three earned) over seven innings against Tampa Bay this past Friday, but he still managed to secure a no-decision after the Yankees rallied late to come through with a 5-4 victory.

The 2007 AL Cy Young Award recipient has not taken a loss in 10 starts since a 6-4 setback to the crosstown-rival Mets on May 23 and has yet to be beaten at home thus far in 2010. In nine Yankee Stadium starts this season, Sabathia is 6-0 with a 2.53 earned run average and held opposing hitters to a .197 average.

Sabathia has also fared well when facing the perennial also-ran Royals over the years, having compiled a 15-10 record with a 3.27 ERA in 32 lifetime starts against Kansas City. In his lone encounter with the Royals last season, the four-time All-Star spun 7 2/3 shutout innings to deliver a win.

The Yankees have also been on a roll as a team in recent weeks. New York has won 11 of its past 14 contests to improve its major league-best record to 59-34 and extend its lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East standings to 2 1/2 games.

The reigning world champions had lost twice in a three-game span, including a 10-2 rout at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Tuesday, but bounced back with a 10-6 triumph over the Halos in yesterday's finale of a brief two-game set.

Mark Teixeira led New York's 15-hit attack with a 3-for-5, three-RBI performance at the plate, with Derek Jeter also collecting three hits while scoring three times on the afternoon. The Yankees added three home runs in the win, including a three-run shot by Colin Curtis that was the rookie's first in the majors.

Robinson Cano had a two-run blast and Juan Miranda belted a solo homer in the seventh that gave New York a 7-5 lead. Curtis, replacing an ejected Brett Gardner with an 0-2 count, hammered a Scot Shields offering into the right- field seats later in the inning to give the Yankees a little more breathing room.

"A lot of excitement," said Curtis about his home run. "You see it go out and it's the first one of your career in a big situation and I was really excited."

Javier Vazquez (8-7) benefited from the Yankees' offensive outburst, with the veteran starter obtaining the victory despite allowing five runs on nine hits -- including a pair of homers -- over the first five innings.

New York will try to keep up its winning ways when it takes on a Kansas City club it's often dominated, especially in the Bronx. The Yankees won four of six matchups with the Royals last season and have gone 25-9 in the overall series since the start of the 2006 campaign, with a 14-4 record at home over that stretch.

Kansas City does come in on a high note, however, after taking two of three bouts from visiting Toronto earlier in the week. In Wednesday's rubber match, Zack Greinke tossed eight outstanding innings and Jose Guillen knocked in a pair of runs to lift the Royals to a 5-2 decision.

Guillen had a sacrifice fly in the third inning and an RBI double during a three-run fifth that staked Kansas City to a 5-1 advantage. That was all Greinke (6-9) would need, as the 2009 AL Cy Young Award honoree held the Blue Jays to two runs and struck out nine without walking a batter in an excellent 105-pitch effort.

"[Toronto] takes some really good swings," Greinke said. "You can't let them know what's coming because guys like that, no matter how good your stuff is, if you don't mix it up they're going to hit one eventually."

Billy Butler also had a run-scoring double in the fifth and Brayan Pena finished 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Royals, who'll send out Bruce Chen to oppose Sabathia this evening.

The journeyman left-hander won four of his first six decisions upon being inserted into the Kansas City rotation in late May, but has struggled in consecutive starts that followed a July 3 victory at Anaheim. In his final appearance before the All-Star break, Chen was tagged for three runs on six hits and lasted just 3 1/3 innings in a road loss to the Chicago White Sox on July 9.

The 33-year-old was only slightly better in his first go-around of the second half, permitting four runs and nine hits in a 5 2/3-inning no-decision against Oakland on Saturday. In nine overall starts for the year, Chen has still produced a respectable 4.28 ERA, however.

This will be Chen's first-ever time pitching at the new Yankee Stadium, but he's probably happy to see the old one no longer around. The Panama native went 0-3 in eight games (six starts) at New York's previous home, while allowing 31 runs (25 earned) and 45 hits in only 27 2/3 innings of work.

For his career, Chen is 1-3 with a 6.75 ERA over 14 appearances (10 starts) against the Yankees.

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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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