Yanks remain hot, pound Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/24/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada each knocked in a pair of runs and Roger Clemens pitched seven solid innings, as the streaking New York Yankees slammed the Kansas City Royals, 9-2, in the opener of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

After scoring 45 runs in three straight wins over Tampa Bay over the weekend, the Yankees pounded out 11 singles to win their fourth straight and improve to 15-5 over their last 20 games. The only extra base hits for New York were Damon's double and Posada's first triple of the year.

The run support was more than enough to help Clemens (3-4) earn career win No. 351. The future Hall of Famer gave up just two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

Clemens also continued his dominance of Kansas City, improving to 25-7 in 40 career starts against the Royals.

Alex Rodriguez knocked in his 100th run of the season with an RBI single in the ninth inning. The Yankee slugger also remains two home runs shy of 500 for his career.

Royals starter Odalis Perez (5-9) pitched admirably after a rough start. The left-hander gave up four runs on five hits through the first two innings but didn't give another run over the rest of his seven innings of work.

Ross Gload homered for Kansas City, which had won four of its last five games.

New York struck for a pair of runs in both the first and second innings to assume command early.

Melky Cabrera walked with one out in the first and Derek Jeter followed with a single to left. After Rodriguez's groundout moved the runners over a base, Matsui's single to right made it 2-0 Yankees.

Robinson Cano and Shelley Duncan then both singled in the second inning and Damon's double into the left field corner handed New York a four-run advantage.

Kansas City got a run back in the fourth as Mark Grudzielanek led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on a Clemens wild pitch.

Gload's one-out homer in the seventh inning brought the Royals within 4-2, but the Yankees blew the game open with a five-run ninth inning.

Damon and Cabrera led off the inning with back-to-back singles and out later, Rodriguez brought home a run with a single up the middle. Jimmy Gobble then took over for Ryan Braun and promptly walked Matsui to load the bases.

Posada's single to left scored two runs, with the runners moving to second and third on the throw home. Cano followed with a sacrifice fly to score Matsui and Grudzielanek dropped Andy Phillips' routine pop out, allowing Posada to score for a seven-run Yankee advantage.

Game Notes

Clemens was facing Kansas City for the first time since the 2005 season...Perez was attempting to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season...Damon finished 3-for-5...Attendance was 30,476.

Sportautochance Baseball Betting News

<< Lester beats cancer, bests Indians
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester, the plucky 23-year-old Red Sox hurler, completed a courageous comeback from cancer by allowing just five hits and two runs over six innings to earn the win in Boston's 6-2 victory

<< Angels' Colon leaves Monday's game versus Oakland with elbow injury
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angels staff stalwart Bartolo Colon left Monday's game against Oakland with a sore right elbow after yielding four runs in the first inning. The 2005 Cy Young winner, Colon had won five consecutive de

<< Lester wins in courageous comeback
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester began his courageous comeback from cancer by allowing five hits and two runs over six innings, and Manny Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a two-run double as Boston topped Cleveland, 6-2, in the opener

<< Billingsley goes the distance as Dodgers down Astros
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chad Billingsley's night on the mound epitomized his season, throwing an almost flawless complete game in the Dodgers' 10-2 pounding of Houston in the opening contest of a three-game set at Minu

<< Valentin's RBI single in the 12th leads Reds over Brewers
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pinch-hitter Javier Valentin's run-scoring single in the 12th inning gave the Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in the opener of a four-game set at Great American Ball Park.

Houston's Pence out four-to-six weeks with chip fracture >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hunter Pence underwent an MRI Monday that revealed the National League Rookie of the Year candidate has a capsular sprain in his right wrist and a chip fracture in that same wrist. The injuries wi

Holliday, Hawpe homer in eighth to lift Rockies past Padres >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to tie the game and Brad Hawpe's two-run homer in the same inning put Colorado on top, as the Rockies came from behind to down San Diego, 7-5, in

Hessman helps Tigers down White Sox >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing at the major league level for the first time since 2004, Mike Hessman blooped the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning, boosting the Tigers to a 9-6 win over the Chicago White Sox. Curtis

Sosa hits HR No. 603; Rangers hold off Mariners in wild finish >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sammy Sosa finished 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and five RBI as Texas withstood a late rally to top Seattle, 8-7, in the first of four between the clubs. Brad Wilkerson had two hits including a two-run s

Hudson, Diamondbacks edge Marlins >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Orlando Hudson hit a two-run home run and Chris Snyder knocked in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the sixth inning, as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Florida Marlins, 4-3, in the

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.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.