A's aim to extend home win streak over Mariners

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland has played well at home this season and nobody knows that better than the Mariners. The two AL West rivals will go at it again tonight in the second test of a three-game series from the Coliseum.

Oakland recorded its sixth straight win as the host in this series with Monday's 6-2 triumph over the Mariners. Coco Crisp and Matt Carson each hit a solo homer and Daric Barton contributed two hits and two runs scored for the Athletics, who have won three of four games on this nine-game residency.

A's starter Brett Anderson was solid through 7 2/3 innings, as he allowed only one run on four hits with four strikeouts. Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey went the rest of the way to preserve the win and pull the Athletics seven games behind Texas for the AL West lead.

"It's good," Anderson said of ending his 0-4 slide in five starts. "I've pitched pretty good here lately and really haven't had much to show for it. It feels good to start off this series with a victory."

The Athletics will also host Boston for three games and are slated to send Dallas Braden to the hill this evening. Braden has gone the distance on five separate occasions this season and three times in his previous seven starts. He did not, however, make it past the fifth inning in last Thursday's 5-0 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Braden held New York to a run and two hits in five innings to suffer the loss, falling to 9-10 in 24 outings with a 3.23 ERA. The left-hander, who had won five of seven decisions before losing in the Bronx, defeated Seattle less than a month ago on August 11 at Safeco Field. Braden posted a complete game and yielded just a run and four hits in a 5-1 victory. He is 2-1 in six career meetings (five starts) with the Mariners.

Seattle has lost four of six games and opened its road trip on a bad note.

Jason Vargas lasted just 4 1/3 innings on the hill and was touched for five runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings to suffer the loss. Franklin Gutierrez homered and Jose Lopez knocked in a run for the Mariners.

"Probably in my last seven or eight starts, guys have been a lot more patient and I've been throwing a lot more fastballs to counter that," Vargas said. "I wish I would have thrown more pitches down today."

The Mariners will also visit the LA Angels of Anaheim for three games.

Scheduled to take the hill Tuesday for the cellar dwellers in the AL West is Doug Fister, who has lost three straight starts and is 1-10 with a 4.92 ERA in his last 16 starts. Seattle is 4-12 over that span and got a rough outing from Fister last Thursday in a 6-3 loss versus Cleveland. He gave up four runs and seven hits though 5 1/3 innings to fall to 4-11 in 23 starts this season.

Fister, a right-hander, defeated Oakland on August 9 this season with six innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 victory. He is 3-1 with a superb 1.50 earned run average in five career starts in this series.

Oakland has won six of seven meetings with the Mariners held at the Coliseum this year, as well as eight of 13 overall matchups between the teams in 2010.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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