Zimmerman's homer lifts Nationals over Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth led the Washington Nationals to a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second of a three-game set.

After the Phillies took a one-run lead on Carlos Ruiz's RBI single in the ninth, the Phils turned to Brad Lidge (1-1) to close the game, but it was not to be.

Mike Morse led off with a single and moved to second on Nyjer Morgan's sac bunt. Adam Kennedy followed with a walk and Zimmerman then crushed a fastball over the middle of the plate over the center-field wall for the win.

Roger Bernadina and Josh Willingham each had an RBI and scored a run for the Nationals, who have won four of their last five. Zimmerman finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Ross Detwiler gave up just one run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Drew Storen (3-2) got the win in relief.

Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run while Ruiz finished the game 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBI for the Phillies, who have lost two in a row since an eight-game winning streak.

Joe Blanton had a shaky start, but settled down and over six innings he gave up four runs on nine hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

The Nationals jumped on Blanton in the first inning. With two outs and two on, Willingham flied a ball to left that Ibanez made a diving play on and got leather on the ball, but it fell out when he hit the ground and one run scored. Bernadina and Ivan Rodriguez followed with consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.

The Phils had men on base in each of the first three innings, but didn't put one across till the fourth. With a man on and one out, Domonic Brown reached base when he hit into a fielder's choice. Ruiz then belted a single to center and Wilson Valdez followed with a single to left to plate Brown and make it a 3-1 game.

With one out in the sixth, Joel Peralta took over for Detwiler and Ruiz greeted him with a shot over the wall in left to make it a one-run game.

Blanton settled down after the shaky start and didn't allow a run over the next four innings, but the Nationals did get one back in the bottom of the sixth.

Bernadina led off with a double and Rodriguez followed with a single. Ian Desmond then hit a sinking liner to right that saw Brown make a beautiful diving stop on, but Bernadina tagged up for a 4-2 lead. Willie Harris then hit a single, but Morgan grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Philly, though, tied the game in the seventh off of Tyler Clippard as Placido Polanco worked a one-out walk and Ibanez followed by drilling an 0-1 pitch into the bullpen in right for his 10th home run of the season.

Game Notes

The Phillies finished July with a mark of 15-13 while the Nationals went 12-13...Each team has won four times in the season series...Philadelphia left 12 men on base...Cole Hamels takes the mound for Philly on Sunday in the series finale and will be opposed by John Lannan.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.