BoSox make moves with roster expansion
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09/01/2010 - Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox made several moves for the September 1 roster expansion.
The club reinstated infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia from the 15-day disabled list and recalled pitcher Dustin Richardson from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Patterson had been out with a neck strain since August 17. Prior to the setback, the utilityman, who was acquired from Oakland on June 26, hit .254 with two homers and six RBI in 29 games with the Sox. He collected two doubles, a triple, three stolen bases and scored four runs in four rehab games with the PawSox.
Saltalamacchia was sidelined with a mysterious infection in his lower right leg that struck him two weeks ago. In his four-game rehab stint in Pawtucket, he batted .333 with two doubles, one home run and four RBI. He saw just three games with Boston after an August 11 recall from Triple-A.
Richardson will see his third stint with the Red Sox this season. In two previous tries, the 26-year-old has yet to record a decision but has allowed three earned runs in 10 1/3 innings over 19 relief appearances with the big club.
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers reinstated second baseman Ian Kinsler and infielder Cristian Guzman from the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday. Kinsler has been sidelined since going on the DL July 29 with a left
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Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina senior defensive end Marvin
Austin has been suspended indefinitely.
Tar Heels head coach Butch Davis made the announcement on Wednesday, just days
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<< Drake to play in Africa in 2011
Des Moines, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Drake University football team will play
in the first American football game on the continent of Africa next year.
Drake, a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, will play an all-
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Charlotte, N.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ending speculation that Stony Brook's football program might move to another conference, the Big South Conference Council of Chief Executive Officers unanimously approved a four-year associate football members
Big South announces four-year extension with Stony Brook >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Big South Conference announced on
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Suddenly surging Astros sweep catatonic Cards >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hunter Pence hit a three-run homer as part of a
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Celtics bring back Delonte West >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics have signed free agent guard
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Jason Kendall, who had been the Kansas City Royals starting catcher in 118 of their first 132 games, will undergo shoulder surgery Friday in Los Angeles for a torn right rotator cuff.Royals manager Ned Yost said the recovery t
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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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