Halladay aims to pitch surging Phils past Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roy Halladay goes after win No. 17 this evening, when the playoff-hopeful Philadelphia Phillies continue their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.

Halladay has lost his last two starts, though, despite quality outings that have seen him surrender six runs in 14 innings. The Phillies, however, have provided him with just two runs in those outings.

On Monday in Los Angeles, Halladay allowed three runs and 10 hits in seven innings, but the Phillies were one-hit in the 3-0 setback to the Dodgers. The loss dropped Halladay to 16-10 on the year to go along with the second-best earned run average in the National League at 2.27. His 190 strikeouts are also one shy of Los Angeles left-hander Clayton Kershaw's NL lead.

Halladay, who is 10-5 with a 1.95 ERA at Citizens Bank Park this year, lost to the Brewers the only other time he faced them, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings back in 2005.

Cole Hamels pulled the Phillies within a game of first place in the National League East on Friday, as the left-hander twirled seven strong innings and Carlos Ruiz drove in the game's lone run in Philadelphia's 1-0 win.

Philadelphia has now held the opposition to one run or less in five of its past seven games.

Hamels (9-10) gave up just three hits to go with seven strikeouts and three walks to pick up his second straight win. Ryan Madson recorded his fifth save of the year by throwing a scoreless ninth.

The Phillies, who have now won four in a row and seven of eight, improved to a major league best 29-12 since July 21 and closed the gap even further on the division-leading Atlanta Braves, who lost to Florida on Friday.

"When you're in first place and people are chasing you and you lose and it's close, you know exactly what's going on and where you're at," said Phils manager Charlie Manuel when asked about the Braves. "We've just got to keep on playing. But they feel us. I think they know where we're at."

Brewers starter Chris Capuano (2-3) was solid in five frames, allowing one run on four hits to suffer the hard-luck loss. He fanned four batters and walked two for Milwaukee, which has lost four straight.

Getting the call for Milwaukee this evening will be righty Dave Bush, who is 7-11 with a 4.71 ERA. Bush picked up a win against Pittsburgh on Sunday, as he allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits in seven innings.

Bush carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his last trip to Philadelphia, but lost to the Phillies earlier in the season. He is 1-2 lifetime against them with a 5.40 ERA in nine starts.

Philadelphia swept a three-game set in Milwaukee back in May and has won six of the past eight meetings between the two clubs.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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