Angels try to avoid rare sweep at hands of Indians

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09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Angels haven't been swept by Cleveland at home in more than a decade. They'll try to avoid that distinction tonight in the finale of a three-game series from the Big A.

Anaheim was previously swept in this series from August 9-11, 1999 and suffered a 6-1 drubbing in Tuesday's second portion of this set. Trevor Bell earned the start for the Halos and suffered the loss for allowing the first two runs on four hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings. Francisco Rodriguez was reached for four runs in the sixth inning.

"Trevor never got into a rhythm," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "We had one bad inning, and they were patient and got the home run. We have to clean some stuff up."

Reggie Willits had three hits and Torii Hunter cracked his 21st home run of the season for the Angels, losers in five straight at home and 15 of the past 21 games overall. LA, which is still 9 1/2 games behind Texas for the American League West lead, hasn't dropped six in a row as the host since 2002.

Since winning four consecutive starts in June, Angels starter Scott Kazmir has dropped three straight and eight of his previous nine trips to the hill with a 7.74 earned run average over that period. Kazmir will take the mound tonight and is coming off Friday's 8-0 loss at Oakland in which he tossed 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball and walked a season-high six batters.

The lefty is 8-13 with a 6.19 ERA in 23 starts this season and hasn't fared too well at home, going 2-7 in nine starts at the Big A. Kazmir is 1-2 with a 7.07 ERA in six career starts against the Tribe.

Cleveland has won two in a row and four of its last six games, and hasn't recorded a sweep since taking all four meetings with Detroit from July 16-18. In Tuesday's five-run victory over the Angels, Lou Marson hit a grand slam to highlight a five-run sixth inning and Travis Hafner led off the frame with a solo shot for the Indians.

Justin Masterson got the start for Cleveland and posted the win by holding Los Angeles to a run on six hits and two walks with five K's in seven frames.

"I had good control with my mechanics," Masterson said. "I kept the ball down in the zone, and I had some good defense. Things are coming together."

Rookie Josh Tomlin gets the starting nod for the Tribe tonight and he's aiming for his third straight victory. He defeated Seattle last Thursday at Safeco Field and hurled six innings of three-run ball while striking out five batters. The right-hander improved to 3-3 in seven starts with a 4.14 earned run average.

Tomlin is 1-2 in four away appearances this season and has never faced the Angels.

Anaheim took two of three at home over the Indians back in April and has won six of the last 10 overall meetings.

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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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