Bedard, Orioles fan A's

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major league strikeout leader Erik Bedard fanned 11 batters over seven one-hit innings, as the Baltimore Orioles routed the Oakland Athletics, 6-1, in the opener of a three-game series at McAfee Coliseum.

Bedard (9-4), who has 167 strikeouts in 2007, is also 6-1 in 12 road starts this season, and defeated the Chicago White Sox his last time out on July 13 at Camden Yards. Bedard was scratched from Wednesday's scheduled start due to a stiff neck, and Daniel Cabrera stood in, yet walked only three batters in Friday's sterling performance en route to winning his fifth straight decision.

All nine batters had a hit, except Ramon Hernandez who had two, for the Orioles, who dropped two of three at Seattle after taking three of four from the White Sox last weekend.

Mark Ellis homered for Oakland, which put to rest a nine-game losing streak with Wednesday's 6-0 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a three-game series. Shannon Stewart and Bobby Kielty both singled to account for the only other hits in the game for the A's.

Joe Blanton (8-7), who has dropped his last three starts, allowed six runs - five earned - on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings for Oakland.

Baltimore put up a run in the first when Corey Patterson singled, stole second, and scored on Nick Markakis' single.

The O's added another run in the second, as Jay Payton lined a lead-off single, and later scored on Luis Hernandez's single courtesy of a fielding error by Stewart.

Baltimore added a run in the fourth, as Aubrey Huff doubled before later coming home on Ramon Hernandez's single; and in the fifth when Nick Markakis walked and advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch before Kevin Millar's RBI single.

The Orioles tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Gibbons singled, moved to second on a passed ball, to third on a Ramon Hernandez single, and both baserunners scored on Brian Roberts' double.

Oakland got its lone run in the bottom half on Ellis' homer to left field on a 1-0 pitch, ending Bedard's 21-inning scoreless streak, during which he struck out 31 and allowed only five hits. Bedard had retired 13 straight prior to the long ball.

Game Notes

Oakland center fielder Nick Swisher left in the seventh inning with a sprained right shoulder after attempting a diving catch at the warning track in center field...Baltimore activated pitcher Steve Trachsel from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game and optioned pitcher Garrett Olson to Triple-A Norfolk...Oakland is 3-3 against the Orioles this season, but Baltimore has won the last three matchups. The A's are 20-9 over their last 29 meetings with the O's.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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