Brewers head to Arizona for final leg of trip

Baseball Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers should feel more confident about the next opponent on their 10-game road trip, as they try and continue their recent success against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at Chase Field.

Milwaukee, which is 3-4 so far on the swing, has won four straight meetings against the D'Backs, including a three-game sweep in Phoenix from September 11-13 of last season. The Brewers are 15-6 in their last 21 encounters with Arizona, going 7-3 in The Valley of the Sun over that time.

The Brewers were aiming for a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday at Chavez Ravine, but dropped a 7-3 decision after reliever LaTroy Hawkins surrendered a game-winning grand slam to Andre Ethier in the bottom of the ninth inning. Hawkins fell to 0-3 this season and starter Dave Bush gave up three runs -- one earned -- and four hits in five innings.

"[Hawkins] threw me a fastball right down the middle," Ethier said. "I just put an easy swing on it and it just kept going,"

Gregg Zaun had two hits and two RBI and Craig Counsell drove in a run for the Brewers, who hope that starter Yovani Gallardo can win his fourth straight start when he takes the hill Friday. Gallardo opened the season 0-2 with a 5.50 ERA in his first three starts, but is 3-0 with a 0.50 earned run average in his past three outings.

He got the streak going with five shutout innings in a win at Pittsburgh on April 21, then gave up just two unearned runs through six frames versus the Pirates five days later. Gallardo then won at San Diego on Saturday, when he held the Padres to a run over seven innings.

The right-hander will try to stay unbeaten against Arizona and is 2-0 in two starts versus the Diamondbacks, having thrown 12 shutout innings over that span.

Arizona is back at home after going 5-5 on a 10-game road trip. It just won three of four games at Houston and recorded a 6-3 victory last night behind Dan Haren's 10th career complete game. Haren went the distance for the first time this season and limited the Astros to three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits with nine strikeouts.

"The team needed it," Haren said on the Diamondbacks' site. "I needed it."

Tony Abreu finished with a career-best four hits and knocked in a run, while Kelly Johnson homered for the 10th time this season for the D'Backs, who will also welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games on the homestand.

Edwin Jackson's first season in Arizona hasn't gone as planned, and he'll try to bounce back from two rough outings tonight. After throwing six shutout innings in a no-decision at San Diego on April 16, Jackson has gone 0-2 with a 13.82 earned run average in his last three outings.

Jackson has dropped two starts in a row and was reached for eight runs and 11 hits in four innings of a 10-5 loss at the Cubs on Sunday. The right-hander has given up 18 total runs and 22 hits in his last two trips to the hill.

Jackson has faced Milwaukee just once in his career, allowing one run in five innings of a 5-2 victory on June 2, 2004.

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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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