Phillies make a quick stop at Colorado

Baseball Betting Lines

09/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Given how well the Phillies have played out west over the last week, they certainly won't mind staying there for an extra game. It doesn't hurt that its a matchup against the Rockies either.

Philadelphia will try to wrap up a seven-game swing with a sixth victory and also post its fifth win in a row over Colorado tonight in a make up game at Coors Field.

After a disappointing sweep at the hands of the Astros a week ago, the Phillies headed out west to San Diego and swept a three-game set from the first-place club. They then dropped the opener of a three-game series with the Dodgers, but rebounded to take the final two games of the set.

Philadelphia took Wednesday's rubber match 5-1 behind 6 1/3 solid innings from Roy Oswalt. The right-hander lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the sixth inning and allowed just a single hit in addition to six walks.

"I was a little wild and had no command of my fastball. When I got in trouble I went with the breaking ball. That's the advantage of having four pitches -- when one isn't working you can go to another one. I was able to put enough movement on the ball to keep them off-balance," Oswalt said.

Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino both hit solo homers and Rollins scored three times for the Phillies, who have won 11 of their last 13 on the road. Chase Utley had three doubles and drove in a pair of runs.

The victory allowed Philadelphia to maintain its three-game deficit for first place in the National League East behind Atlanta as well as a 1 1/2-game edge over San Francisco for the Wild Card spot.

The Phillies were unable to gain ground on the Giants due to their 2-1 victory over the Rockies last night. Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez gave up just two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts over eight innings, but still failed in his fifth straight bid to become the NL's first 18-game winner with a fourth losing decision in a row.

Jimenez was charged with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on a wild pitch that allowed the Giants' Darren Ford to race towards third. Catcher Miguel Olivo tried to gun him down, but the throw to third sailed high and Ford was able to come home.

Carlos Gonzalez's 30th homer of the season in the fourth inning was the lone offense for Colorado, which has lost two straight after winning seven of eight and is 5 1/2 games behind Philadelphia in the Wild Card race.

Gonzalez is hitting .515 (17-for-33) with five homers and 13 RBI over a nine- game hitting streak.

"As of now we have plenty of games against people we need to catch," Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. "We kind of control our destiny, even though we are making it a little difficult for ourselves."

This will be the last time the Rockies face the Phillies this year and that is only because the second half of a slated doubleheader on May 12 was rained out. Colorado won the first game on that day at home, but was swept in Philadelphia over four games from July 23-26.

Joe Blanton finished off that sweep with six innings of two-run ball in his first ever appearance versus the Rockies, giving his club 15 wins in the last 18 regular-season meetings with Colorado. The Phils also bested the Rox in four game's in last year's NLDS.

Blanton will try to duplicate that success tonight and improve on his 6-6 season mark and 5.15 earned run average. The right-hander has won his last three decisions though and is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA over his last three starts. After a no-decision versus the Astros on Aug. 23 despite seven innings of one- run ball, Blanton bested the Padres on Saturday, yielding a run on six hits over six frames of work.

The 29-year-old is just 2-4 with a 6.06 ERA in 10 road starts this season.

The Rockies will counter with Jhoulys Chacin, who has settled down to win two straight starts after a rough return to the rotation two weeks ago.

The right-hander was tagged for five runs over five innings of a loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 17, his first appearance with the Rockies since July 23, but has posted wins over the Diamondbacks and Dodgers since, yielding just a single run and seven hits over 14 2/3 innings.

The 22-year-old righty is 7-9 with a 3.79 ERA in 22 games (15 starts) this season and will make his first career start versus the Phillies tonight. He has, however, thrown 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against them over two appearances.

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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