Hits Acquires Davies Against Brewers

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Ready to take the hill for the visiting Diamondbacks this afternoon is Ian Kennedy who has emerged as one of the surprise hurlers in the NL for the first half of the season. Kennedy, who is in his second season with Arizona and his fifth in the majors overall, is sporting an impressive 8-2 record in 2011 after putting up a 9-10 mark a year ago.

 

Oakland, which is just 7-10 in interleague play this season, has the fewest home runs of any team in the majors entering play on Sunday, having generated a mere 43 long balls over 84 games. The A's have thrilled the hometown fans with just 20 home runs in 40 games thus far.

 

In contrast Arizona, which is 10-7 versus the AL, is the top home run hitting team in the NL with 94 long balls in 84 games. The Diamondbacks are also tied for third in the majors with 20 triples, providing them with the fifth-highest slugging percentage in the majors (.418).

 

Nyjer Morgan finished up 3-for-5 with a home run, double, triple and four RBI, and scored the winning run for the Brewers in a four-run ninth inning on Saturday to give the visitors the hard-fought win. Pinch-hitter George Kottaras plated the game-winning run, while Jonathan Lucroy went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI for Milwaukee in the triumph as well.

 

Fielder continues to lead the NL in RBI with 69 and is tied for second in the league with 21 home runs, yet he's delivered just one long ball in his last 10 games and only one RBI in the last five.

 

Danny Valencia put up three hits and plated three for the hosts as he hit his ninth home run of the campaign. The subject of trade talks of late, Michael Cuddyer added his 11th home run and scored twice in the setback.

 

A loser in two of his last three outings, Zack Greinke hopes to get better results this time out as he closes the series with Minnesota this afternoon.

 

As for the Twins, they'll be leaning on Nick Blackburn to get them through today at Target Field. The right-hander, just 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA in four career games versus Milwaukee, has dropped two straight outings, the most recent of which was a 15-0 thrashing by LA on Monday.

 

Against the Dodgers the Oklahoma native lasted just 4 1/3 innings and was charged with 13 hits and eight runs, seven of them earned. Despite the lopsided outcome, Blackburn's ERA on the season rose to just 3.64.

 

Wilson Betemit delivered a three-run homer and Alex Gordon posted a solo blast among his four hits, two RBI and two runs scored for the Royals in yesterday's outing, yet the squad still lost for the 11th time in 13 outings.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

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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