Young, Teagarden help Rangers beat A's

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Young finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored, and Taylor Teagarden hit a two-run homer, as the Texas Rangers defeated the Oakland Athletics, 7-4, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Vladimir Guerrero drove in two runs for the Rangers, who have won five of their last seven games and increased their lead atop the AL West to 8 1/2 games over the A's.

C.J. Wilson (10-5) earned the win after he pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.

Vin Mazzaro (6-3) started on the hill for the visitors and was charged with seven runs on 12 hits over 5 1/3 frames.

Ra jai Davis posted two hits, an RBI and a run scored for Oakland, which entered this series as winners in four of its previous five and will now travel to Chicago for a weekend series against the White Sox.

After Oakland opened the scoring in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki, the Rangers moved ahead 2-1 in the home portion of the frame.

Young's one-out single preceded a double by Josh Hamilton. A grounder by Guerrero brought home Young, and an RBI base hit to right field off the bat of Nelson Cruz moved the Rangers in front.

Guerrero's RBI single in the third, which scored Young, made it 3-1.

Texas pushed its cushion to three in the fifth. Young led off with a double, and Hamilton singled to put runners on the corners. When Guerrero grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Young crossed the plate.

In the top of the sixth, Oakland cut its deficit to 4-3 with a pair of runs. Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled leading off and headed for third on a one-out single by Mark Ellis. Landon Powell followed and grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Kouzmanoff on the play. Later in the frame, a double by Cliff Pennington plated Powell.

Texas, though, essentially put the game away with three runs in the home half of the sixth. Murphy led off with his fifth home run of the year, and Joaquin Arias followed with a base hit. With one out, Teagarden belted a fastball over the wall in right field to give the hosts a 7-3 advantage.

Darren O'Day pitched two consecutive perfect innings, and Frank Francisco came on for the ninth. Francisco yielded a one-out single to Coco Crisp, who snagged second on defensive indifference and then scored on a single by Davis. Suzuki, though, grounded into a game-ending double play.

Game Notes

The Rangers lead the season series, 5-4...Mazzaro lost for the second time on the road this season (4-2)...Texas posted 14 hits compared to 10 for Oakland...Davis stole two bases and has 32 swipes this season...The A's were 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position...Hamilton was 3-for-4.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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