Dodgers shoot for another win in key set with Padres

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07/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Excellent pitching and timely hitting made the Los Angeles Dodgers look like the first-place team last night versus the San Diego Padres.

Los Angeles goes for its first four-game winning streak in almost two months tonight, when it tries to inch closer to National League West-leading San Diego in the second contest of a three-game set at Petco Park.

The Dodgers came into last night's game with the Padres six games back in the race for the division crown, but shaved one off that deficit with a 2-0 victory.

Chad Billingsley allowed just three hits and two walks over six innings, but was replaced by a pinch-hitting Andre Ethier during the seventh because it was a scoreless game. The move paid off for Los Angeles manager Joe Torre, as Ethier hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs despite not starting the game due to illness.

That hit made Billingsley a winner, and Hong-Chih Kuo followed with two scoreless innings of relief before Jonathan Broxton recorded his 20th save of the season.

"I didn't want [Billingsley] starting the game and coming out in the fifth inning," Torre said. "That couldn't have been more of a perfect spot, when they had to pitch to him."

Ethier's hit scored both Blake DeWitt and Garret Anderson for the Dodgers, who have won five of six and aim for their first four-game winning streak since June 6-9.

Jon Garland took the loss after giving up two runs over 6 2/3 innings. Yorvit Torrealba had a pair of hits for the Padres, who failed to score in the fourth inning despite loading the bases with nobody out.

"Obviously we'd like to push runs across every night, but sometimes it doesn't go your way," Padres second baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. said. "We just have to come back and be ready to play [Wednesday] night."

The Padres had a three-game winning streak end while the second-place San Francisco Giants pulled within 2 1/2 games of the division's top spot.

San Diego will look to rebound tonight behind Clayton Richard, who had won three consecutive decisions prior to a setback to the Braves on Thursday. The 26-year-old lefty allowed four runs, all but one earned, on nine hits and two walks over six innings, falling to 7-5 with a 3.57 earned run average on the season.

Richard has made two starts in his career versus the Dodgers, going 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA.

Hiroki Kuroda counters for the Dodgers after halting a three-start losing streak on Thursday. Facing the Mets, the 35-year-old Japanese import yielded five hits and a walk over eight scoreless innings to improve to 8-8 with a 3.48 ERA this year. However, Kuroda does have a 7.13 ERA over his last four outings.

The right-hander is 4-2 with a 4.91 ERA in his career versus the Padres.

Los Angeles has won five of six over the Padres this year, including a three- game sweep at Petco Park from May 14-16.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW 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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