Abreu helps Angels get by A's

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu drove in three runs and scored three times, as the Angels took down the Athletics, 7-4, to avoid a three-game sweep at the Oakland Coliseum.

Abreu and Mike Napoli each homered for Los Angeles, which ended a six-game road trip with a 3-3 mark. Hideki Matsui and Torii Hunter had an RBI apiece.

"We played pretty great today," Hunter said. "I think we played the game the right way today."

Ervin Santana (15-9) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over six innings to improve to 5-1 over his last six starts. The right-hander also walked four batters and fanned three.

Jeff Larish hit a two-run double for the Athletics, who have dropped five of seven. Vin Mazzaro (6-8) got rocked in 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits. The right-hander lost his sixth straight decision.

"He (Mazzaro) has a little blister on his finger that he's been battling. I think he went out there today and did the best he could," A's catcher Landon Powell said.

After stranding the bases loaded in the second, the Angels scored four times in the third inning. Howie Kendrick reached base when he grounded into a fielder's choice and crossed the plate on Abreu's homer to right-center. Matsui hit a two-out single and scored on Napoli's blast to left-center.

Oakland got a run back in the home third. Rajai Davis walked, stole second, and scored on Powell's single.

The A's scored two more runs in the fourth to cut the gap to 4-3. Jack Cust singled and Mark Ellis reached first on Erick Aybar's fielding error. Larish cleared the bases with a double to left-center field. Santana retired the next three batters to keep LA in front.

Los Angeles went ahead by two runs in the top of the fifth. Abreu walked and crossed the plate on Hunter's double for a 5-3 lead.

Oakland loaded the bases with two outs in the home fifth, but Larish struck out to end the threat.

The Angels plated two runs in the seventh to extend their margin to 7-3. Kendrick led off with a double and raced home on Abreu's single. Abreu stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on Matsui's base hit.

The A's scored a run off Fernando Rodney in the ninth. Coco Crisp led off with a single and moved to second two batters later on Gabe Gross' groundout. Cust followed with a bloop RBI single to left. Ellis' base hit put men on first and second, but Larish grounded out to end the game.

Game Notes

The Athletics and Angels have split 16 games this season...Oakland's last three-game sweep of the Angels took place at the Coliseum from June 29-July 1, 2004...Santana boasts a tremendous 12-3 record over 20 career matchups (18 starts) with Oakland and has been terrific as well at the Coliseum, where he's gone 6-1 in nine starts and a pair of relief efforts...Mazzaro fell to 1-2 lifetime against the Angels.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

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Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

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