Blue Jays host Indians in rubber match

Baseball Betting Lines

08/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians have split the first two games of this weekend's set and a series victory is up for grabs this afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Cleveland dwells in the basement of the AL Central with a 43-61 record, while Toronto's solid 54-50 mark still relegates the team to fourth place in the AL East, 12 1/2 games back of the Yankees.

Jeanmar Gomez will make just his second major league start today for the Indians. The 22-year-old hurler's starting debut came back on June 18 when he pitched seven scoreless innings to beat the Tigers. Gomez's 5.20 ERA at the Triple-A level is far from impressive, but the Indians still have high hopes for the righty.

Toronto will counter Gomez with Jesse Litsch, who is 1-4 this season with a 5.48 ERA, numbers that can obviously stand some improvement. Litsch has pitched eight games so far this season and has permitted 47 hits and 13 walks in 42 2/3 innings. He did not figure in the decision against Detroit on Sunday after allowing two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of action.

Litsch faced Cleveland for the first time earlier this season and lost the game despite allowing two earned runs in six innings.

On Saturday, Shin-Soo Choo went 2-for-5 and hit the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning, as the Indians edged the Blue Jays, 2-1.

The victory snapped Cleveland's three-game slide and comes on a busy day for the Indians, who continued to make moves. Following their trade of Austin Kearns to the Yankees on Friday, they shipped Jake Westbrook to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade and dealt Kerry Wood to the Yankees on Saturday.

Westbrook was supposed to start Saturday's contest, but was scratched shortly before the game, and Josh Tomlin got the ball for his second major league start. Tomlin allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings, while Jensen Lewis (3-2) got the victory for pitching an inning of scoreless relief.

"I found out about it last night," Tomlin said of the trade. "I knew ahead of time it could be a possibility. It wasn't a for-sure deal, so I came in today ready to go just in case."

Cleveland has won five of its nine meetings with the Jays this season.

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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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