Capuano picks up win as Brewers down Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer and Chris Capuano picked up his first win in over three years, as the Milwaukee Brewers earned a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park.

Prince Fielder also homered for Milwaukee, which has won six of its last eight overall despite being held to only three hits. The Brewers have now won five straight against the Pirates.

Capuano (1-1), who returned to the mound on June 3 after undergoing dual Tommy John surgeries, hadn't won a game since May 7, 2007. In this one, the left- hander allowed one run on three hits, walked one and struck out four in throwing only 65 pitches over five innings. John Axford threw a scoreless ninth to register his 12th save of the season.

Ronny Cedeno had a pair of hits, including a run-scoring triple for the Pirates, who had taken two of three games versus Houston over the weekend. Pittsburgh has dropped eight of its last 10.

Jeff Karstens (2-5) was saddled with the loss despite throwing six solid innings. The righty allowed three runs on as many hits, struck out six and did not issue a walk.

Pittsburgh appeared to have something going in the bottom of the ninth, trailing 3-1. Axford came on and gave up a leadoff single to Garrett Jones, then walked Pedro Alvarez. However, the right-hander struck out the next two batters before retiring Cedeno on a groundout to second that sealed the win.

Karstens pitched two perfect innings before rain halted play for 50 minutes prior to the bottom of the second. When play continued the Pirates right- hander picked up where he left off by retiring the next six batters before Fielder broke the string with a homer to left leading off the fifth.

Alvarez drew a leadoff walk in the home half and crossed the plate on Cedeno's two-out triple to center that evened things. Karstens lined out to third to end the inning.

Milwaukee then regained the lead in the sixth. Carlos Gomez reached with a one-out, pinch-hit bunt single and Weeks followed by crushing a fastball into the left-field seats for a 3-1 game.

Pittsburgh stranded a pair of runners in the seventh and Kameron Loe, who retired the final batter in the inning, set the Pirates down in order in the eighth.

Game Notes

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen sat out the game after suffering a right shoulder injury in Sunday's win versus Houston and is listed as day-to- day...Karstens fell to 0-3 in nine career games -- six starts -- against Milwaukee...Pittsburgh finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.

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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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