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06/11/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros and the Cubs will take a break from interleague play tonight, as the two clubs will stop in Chicago to make up a postponed game at Wrigley Field.
The two clubs were supposed to wrap a three-game set on April 11, but the game was postponed due to snow and rain. Houston took the first two games of that set in mid-April to snap a four-game losing streak to the Cubs, who won eight of 15 versus the Astros in 2006.
The Cubs have yet to begin the second stage of their interleague schedule, as they played the Atlanta Braves over the weekend. Chicago took the first two contests of the four-game set before dropping the final two, including Sunday's 5-4 loss.
The series got testy on Saturday, when Atlanta starter Tim Hudson hit Alfonso Soriano in the first inning. Soriano had homered three times the day before versus Atlanta.
Chicago's Sunday starter, Ted Lilly, then hit Edgar Renteria in the first inning yesterday, and was warned by home plate umpire Jim Wolf as the benches began to empty. No punches were thrown, but Wolf decided to eject Lilly after all.
The Cubs' bullpen did the best it could, but Ryan Dempster (1-3) gave up three runs in an inning of relief to take the loss. Michael Barrett and Mike Fontenot homered for the Cubs, who have dropped two straight after winning five of six. Chicago is six games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, and will host Seattle on Tuesday to continue what is now a seven-game homestand.
Chicago remained without Aramis Ramirez, who is sidelined with left patella tendinitis, though the slugging third baseman was available to pinch-hit.
Carlos Zambrano will try to follow up on an excellent outing last time out. In his first start since his dugout incident with Barrett, Zambrano allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings against the Brewers on Wednesday. He also struck out nine in the 6-2 victory that improved the right- hander to 6-5 on the year with a 5.38 earned run average.
Barrett did not catch Zambrano last week, and is not expected to do so tonight either.
Zambrano, who has alternated wins and loses over his last seven starts, is 8-5 in 19 games (17 starts) versus the Astros with a 2.57 ERA.
Woody Williams will try to get back on track when he starts against the Cubs tonight. Williams pitched well to close out May, besting the Reds 10-2, but was then pummeled at Colorado on Wednesday. The right-hander was tagged for six runs on 10 hits over six innings in an 8-7 loss to the Rockies, falling to 2-8 on the year with a 5.79 ERA.
Williams, who has lost three of his last four starts, is 3-8 in 17 games (16 starts) against the Cubs with a 4.55 ERA.
Houston fell to 3-3 on what is now a seven-game road trip with Sunday's 6-3 loss to the White Sox. Mark Lamb hit a solo homer for Houston, which had its brief two-game winning streak snapped.
Wandy Rodriguez (3-6) was ineffective in the loss, giving up five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits. He struck out three and walked one for Houston, which is 7 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. The club next hosts Oakland.
<< Mariners try to clip Byrd at the Jake
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners will play the
second of four makeup games this evening from a series that was postponed
entirely by severe weather conditions back in early April.
Cleveland already defeat
<< Run-deprived Giants host Jays by the Bay
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants hope to put a run on the board for
the first time in three games this evening when they open a three-game
interleague set with the Toronto Blue Jays at AT&T Park.
The Giants enter this s
<< Phillies welcome White Sox in Thome's return to Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Thome makes his return to Philadelphia this evening and
will lead the Chicago White Sox in the first of three interleague games
against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Thome signed a big free agent contract with th
<< San Lorenzo bags Clausura title
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Lorenzo captured its first
league title since 2001 with a 4-2 win against Arsenal at Pedro Bidegain on
Sunday.
Second-placed Boca Juniors earned a 1-0 victory over Belgrano earlier in
Niners nab Rayburn >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers signed free agent
defensive tackle Sam Rayburn on Monday. Terms of the contract were not
disclosed.
Rayburn spent all four of his NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles
Lightning re-sign pair of players >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed center Nick
Tarnasky and right wing Kyle Wanvig on Monday.
Tarnasky inked a three-year deal, while Wanvig signed a one-year, two-way
contract.
The 6-foot-2, 233-pou
107th U.S. Open Championship Preview >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a practice round at Oakmont Country
Club two months ago, Tiger Woods debated hitting driver into the wind at the
288-yard eighth hole.
But because the world's best golfer has a self-imposed r
Lions' Rogers being investigated for sex crime >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Lions star defensive tackle Shaun
Rogers is reportedly being investigated for an alleged sex crime.
The Detroit Free Press said that police are investigating the former Texas
star for an incid
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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Chicago, IL - New Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and star linebacker Brian Urlacher shot down reports of a rift, saying they're simply not true.
"There's nothing between us," Cutler said Thursday, when he reported to training camp. "I just want to put that to rest. There never has been anything between us."
Urlacher added: "I never said what I was quoted as saying and that's it. I have a lot of respect for Jay. I think Jay knows that."
Former Bears receiver Bobby Wade caused a stir when he told Minneapolis radio station KFAN-AM that Urlacher used a profanity while questioning Cutler's manhood during a conversation in Las Vegas last weekend. Wade, who now plays for the Vikings, said Urlacher used a profane version of the word "wimp" during the interview that had to be edited out.
go radio station WSCR-AM also reported that Urlacher had to be restrained from confronting Cutler during organized team activities.
"I wouldn't go face-to-face with Brian, anyway," Cutler said. "No, that's never happened. I've hung out with Brian away from the facility numerous times and we've always gotten along."
Urlacher, noting he was limited by a groin injury, denied the reports in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and did it again when he reported to camp.
"I didn't practice this summer, so I don't know how I would fight the guy if I didn't practice," Urlacher said. "We have no problems. I'm excited about football starting. I'm excited to have him as our quarterback."
Why would Wade say that?
"I don't know," Urlacher said. "Maybe he's jealous because we have a good quarterback now."
Cutler said the first he heard of any friction was when he got a call from Urlacher to clear the air. Urlacher, however, said he had already taken several calls from teammates wondering if the reports were true when Cutler phoned.
"He called me and I said, What's up (expletive), what are you doing?'" a grinning Urlacher said, uttering the same word he allegedly used with Wade. "It's so dumb to me that this even got to this point, but it did and then here we are."
better place after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They have a franchise quarterback for the first time in decades after acquiring Cutler in an offseason trade with Denver. But there are questions about his attitude following a fallout with Broncos management and new coach Josh McDaniels.
His critics include former Bears coach Mike Ditka and former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, one of Smith's mentors. Smith, however, said Cutler has been a model teammate so far while denying any animosity with Urlacher.
"There's no issue with Jay and Brian, except Brian and Jay are both excited about being teammates for our club this year," coach Lovie Smith said. "No more than that. We can't spend a whole lot of time on something that isn't true. I have talked to the players. Whenever something comes out, you have to address it, but it's a non-issue."
In some ways, Cutler is getting a second chance in Chicago, an opportunity to repair his reputation.
Smith said another quarterback - Michael Vick - deserves one, although he doesn't see it happening with the Bears, who lack an experienced backup. The former Atlanta Falcons star, who served a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring, said Thursday he is getting close to signing with a pro football team.
"A second chance, like everyone in society who has paid their debt to society," Smith said. "He deserves a second chance. As far as we're concerned, we like this team that we have right now."
Particularly the new quarterback.
"Me and Brian have been on a good relationship since I've been here, and I expect it to continue that way," Cutler said.
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