Iannetta, Cook help Rockies avoid sweep

Baseball Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Iannetta's solo home run in the sixth allowed seven strong innings by Aaron Cook to hold up in a 1-0 Rockies win against the Reds to avert a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.

Cook (4-5) gave up six hits, fanned five and walked one to pick up an elusive first road win to the 2010 season. He was winless in nine previous road starts having gone 0-5 in that stretch.

Iannetta had one of three multi-hit efforts in Sunday's pitchers' duel with the Reds' Orlando Cabrera and Drew Stubbs collecting the other two.

Cincinnati's Travis Wood (0-1) again pitched well with nothing to show for it. The 23-year-old is still seeking his first big-league win through four starts after holding Colorado to three hits and a run over six innings.

The rookie hurler walked four and struck out six coming off a near perfect game broken up in the ninth of an eventual 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Phillies.

The Reds had a chance to tie it in the ninth after Stubbs singled off Huston Street with one away and Ryan Hanigan fisted a pinch-hit single into shallow center to leave runners at the corners.

Chris Heisey chased a slider off the plate for the second out and Street retired Brandon Phillips on three effective sliders to end the dramatics and stay perfect on the year in save chances with his sixth.

Wood's only mistake came in the sixth with two out as Iannetta pulled a 2-2 changeup over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie. Cook retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced before giving way to Joe Beimel in the eighth.

Beimel got Joey Votto to ground out and Rafael Betancourt came on for the final two outs, inducing a pop fly from Laynce Nix to end the inning after an 11-pitch at-bat.

The Reds bullpen kept them in the game for a chance to tie the game in the later innings as Nick Masset and Arthur Rhodes fired a pair of clean frames in relief of Wood. Logan Ondrusek gave up a two-out single to Clint Barmes in the ninth, but Bill Bray entered and got pinch-hitter Seth Smith to foul out behind home plate.

Cincinnati had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but failed to get a run home.

Nix struck out with runners at first and third in the first inning and Wood grounded out to strand a runner at third in the second. The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in their next at-bat, but Miguel Cairo grounded out to end the threat. Cook got another ground ball out from Phillips in the fourth to leave a runner at second.

Game Notes

Cook is 3-0 in nine lifetime meetings with the Reds...Wood lowered his earned run average to 2.02 in his first appearance in Cincinnati...The Rockies broke a three-game losing streak...The Reds have lost five of seven games overall...A pair of Rockies' hitting streaks went by the wayside Sunday with Jonathan Herrera's ending at 13 games and Carlos Gonzalez's snapped at 10 games...Reds third baseman Scott Rolen sat for a second straight game due to illness. In addition, outfielder Jay Bruce was given the day off...Cincinnati finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

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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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