Angels hope to add to Dodgers' woes

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06/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In addition to calling the same metropolitan area home, both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Los Angeles Dodgers hold the title of defending division champions. Only one of these teams has been playing like a contender as of late, however.

The Angels will try to pin a sixth consecutive loss on the reeling Dodgers when the Southern California foes continue the latest edition of the Freeway Series tonight at Angel Stadium.

Anaheim extended the Dodgers' woes with a 6-3 triumph in Tuesday's opener of this three-game interleague set, with the Angels scoring three times in both the sixth and seventh innings to overcome an early 3-0 deficit. The win was also the fourth in the row for the Halos in this rivalry, with Mike Scioscia's squad having swept a three-game series at Dodger Stadium from June 11-13.

The Angels have also prevailed in 17 of their past 24 meetings with the Dodgers and own a 9-3 record at Angel Stadium over that span, although the Dodgers did take two of three bouts between the teams at the Big A last season.

Anaheim tied last night's contest on Bobby Abreu's three-run homer off Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in the bottom of the sixth, then went in front on a Howie Kendrick RBI single one inning later. Kevin Frandsen followed with a two-run double to lengthen the margin to 6-3.

Kendrick finished 3-for-4 and scored twice for the Angels, who have won four of their last five tests and are 14-5 since June 2. The team still trails red- hot Texas by 3 1/2 games for first place in the American League West. Ervin Santana (7-5) did his part as well, with the Anaheim starter allowing three runs and striking out six over the first seven innings to record the victory.

Kershaw (7-4) was charged with giving up five runs in his 6 2/3-inning stint, with the young southpaw fanning six while issuing three walks.

"Abreu hitting the three-run homer was a game-changer," said Kershaw. "He's a good hitter. It was my fault. This one hurts."

The Dodgers have now dropped eight of their last 10 tilts and have fallen into third place in the NL West, three games behind front-running San Diego. The club has not lost six straight times since an eight-game skid from August 22-29, 2008.

A matchup with Joel Pineiro may not help the Dodgers break out of their funk, considering the Anaheim hurler's track of record of success against Joe Torre's team. The veteran right-hander owns a 3-0 record with a 2.67 earned run average in four lifetime starts against the Dodgers and fired a complete- game five-hitter with seven strikeouts in the Angels' 10-1 rout at Chavez Ravine on June 11.

Pineiro followed up with an equally-as-good performance on June 16, limiting Milwaukee to a run on three hits over eight innings to win his third consecutive start. He's pitched to a 2.35 ERA over that strong stretch.

The 31-year-old has gone 6-6 with a 4.45 ERA in 14 starts for the season, his first since signing a two-year free-agent contract with Anaheim in January. In seven starts at Angel Stadium, Pineiro is 3-2 with a very solid 2.40 ERA and surrendered just two homers in 48 2/3 innings of work over those games.

The Dodgers will hand the ball to John Ely this evening, with the rookie hoping to atone for a rough last start. The right-hander lasted just 4 2/3 innings of his team's 7-1 loss at Cincinnati on Thursday and was rocked for seven runs on eight hits, three of which were homers.

Ely had compiled a 3-2 record with an impressive 2.54 ERA through his first eight major league starts, but he's gone 0-2 with an awful 9.20 ERA over his past three assignments and hasn't pitched beyond five innings at any point during that span. One of those defeats came against the Angels on June 12, with the 24-year-old permitting four runs in five frames.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

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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