Astros vie to continue mastery of Buccos

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros can continue a season's worth of success against the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight, when the teams get together for the middle game of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Houston made it seven in a row against the Pirates in Friday's series opener, as Jeff Keppinger homered and drove in three runs to support 7 2/3 sturdy innings from Brett Myers in a 5-2 win.

Hunter Pence singled twice, scored two runs and walked, while Jason Bourgeois scored a pair of runs and swiped two bases for the Astros.

Myers (7-6) allowed two runs on five hits for Houston, which has won five of its last seven games.

He walked one and struck out four in extending his franchise record to 19 straight starts of six innings or more to open the season. Matt Lindstrom retired the side in order in the ninth to nail down his 22nd save of the season.

Zach Duke (3-9) suffered the loss in his first start since June 16, yielding a pair of runs on five hits over five frames, while fanning five for the Pirates, who have dropped seven straight overall.

Right-hander Bud Norris, who beat the Pirates in his lone matchup against them as a rookie last season, gets the call for the Astros Saturday.

The 25-year-old former sixth-round draft pick allowed six hits and a run in six innings against Pittsburgh in 2009, but has gone without a win this season since a 4-1 triumph in St. Louis on May 13.

In five starts since, he's 0-2 with three no-decisions, including an 8-0 loss to the Cardinals in his most recent outing on July 9.

In that game, Norris was touched for seven hits and five runs in 7 2/3 innings.

He is 2-2 in six road starts with a 4.76 earned run average.

For Pittsburgh, righty Ross Ohlendorf makes his ninth career appearance against the Astros while still searching for his first victory.

The 27-year-old Austin, Texas native was a hard-luck 2-0 loser to Houston in his last start on July 8, scattering seven hits and striking out five while his lifetime mark against the team fell to 0-6.

Ohlendorf scored his lone win of 2010 one start earlier, tossing seven scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory over Philadelphia on July 2.

The Princeton University product is 1-3 in seven starts at home, where he sports a 4.15 ERA in 39 innings.

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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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