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08/18/2010 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, two run-scoring doubles and knocked in four, as the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the American League West Division-leading Texas Rangers with an 8-6 win at Tropicana Field.
B.J. Upton finished with two hits, including a solo shot and stole two bases for Tampa Bay, which has won seven of nine and moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees atop the AL East. The Rays earned their sixth series sweep of three or more games this season. The club last swept Texas from May 15-17, 2007.
James Shields (11-11) snapped a two-start losing skid after working seven solid innings. The right-hander allowed two runs -- one earned -- on four hits, struck out six and walked one. Rafael Soriano retired the final two hitters in the ninth to earn his 35th save of the season.
Mitch Moreland clubbed a two-run homer and Taylor Teagarden chipped in with a solo shot for the Rangers, who have dropped five of seven.
Derek Holland (2-2), who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to the game to make the start in place of Rich Harden, who was put on the 15-day DL with right shoulder tendinitis, yielded five runs on six hits with four walks and struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings. Holland had been sidelined with left rotator cuff inflammation and a right knee injury since his last start on May 30.
Tampa Bay pushed across a two-out run in the first to grab an early lead. Carl Crawford singled and came around to score on Longoria's double to center.
The Rangers stranded a runner in the third and two more in the fourth before Longoria cracked a leadoff homer just inside the left-field foul pole to give the Rays a 2-0 advantage in the home fourth.
Teagarden's one-out solo shot to left in the fifth cut the Rangers deficit in half. However, the Rays answered with three in the home portion.
Upton started the inning with a solo homer and the next two batters walked. After Longoria chased in a run with a double, Carlos Pena struck out. Alexi Ogando entered in place of Holland and fanned Kelly Shoppach, then intentionally walked Ben Zobrist to load the bases. The right-hander proceeded to walk pinch-hitter Matt Joyce to force in another and put the hosts up 5-1.
Andres Blanco led off the sixth with an infield base hit, advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on Shields' wild pitch. Crawford's sacrifice fly in the bottom half restored the Rays' four-run cushion.
Joyce's RBI single in the seventh put Tampa Bay ahead 7-2. In the eighth, Joaquin Arias singled and went to third on Julio Borbon's double before Texas got two runs back on run-scoring groundouts from Blanco and Josh Hamilton.
Longoria's sac fly in the home eighth scored Jason Bartlett, who singled, went to second on an error and stole third to make it 8-4.
Jorge Cantu reached base on a one-out fielder's choice in the ninth and Moreland belted a homer to right to close the gap to two. Soriano was summoned from the bullpen and retired the last two batters to lock down the win.
Game Notes
Texas took two of three from the Rays earlier in the year, but has lost 13 of its last 16 at Tropicana Field...Tampa Bay went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10, while Texas finished 1-for-4 with RISP and left only three.
<< Giants disable P Ray
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants have placed
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and activated left-hander Jeremy Affeldt from the 15-day DL.
Ray was charged for fo
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Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders signed center Andy
Hilbert to a one-year, two-way contract on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Hilbert returns to the Islanders after spending the 2009-10
season with the Minnesota
<< Blue Jackets sign Guite
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets signed forward Ben
Guite to a one-year contract on Wednesday.
Guite, 32, was held scoreless in six games with Nashville in 2009-10. He
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<< He's Back! Favre returns for 20th season
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Favre officially announced his return
to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2010 season, his 20th as a professional in
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Wozniacki, Dementieva win second-rounders in Montreal >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki and
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The world No. 1 Nadal h
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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