Astros swarm Padres; bees delay game
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07/02/2009 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez threw seven strong innings to help the Houston Astros take a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres in an unusual finale of a four-game set.
Rodriguez (7-6) gave up just one run on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts for the Astros, who have won six of their last eight. Geoff Blum hit a three-run home run and drove in four while Lance Berkman scored three times and drove in one in the win.
Scott Hairston and Everth Cabrera each drove a run while Kevin Correia (5-6) was tagged for all six runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts over five innings of action for the Padres, who have dropped six of the last nine games.
What made this game stand out was a delay in the top of the ninth due to a swarm of bees.
With Miguel Tejada at the plate with two outs in the frame, Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks began walking toward the infield as the bees became thick in the air.
The rest of the players soon left the field as the game went into a delay until a beekeeper arrived at the park.
The swarm eventually centered around a ballgirl's jacket on a chair near the stands and fans were evacuated from several sections near the swarm.
When the beekeeper arrived, he sprayed down the jacket and, after a 52-minute delay, the game resumed.
Houston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Michael Bourn led off with a single and Berkman later drew a walk. A single from Carlos Lee loaded the bases and Blum followed with an RBI single. Hunter Pence then grounded into a fielder's choice that saw Berkman score.
In the third, the Astros made it a 3-0 game as a single from Lee scored Berkman, who had doubled prior to Lee's at-bat.
San Diego had a golden opportunity to score in the third as the team had the bases loaded with no outs. However, Adrian Gonzalez hit into a fielder's choice that saw Correia forced out at home and Kevin Kouzmanoff then hit into a double play.
Houston padded its lead in the fifth as Tejada led off with a single, Berkman later walked and Blum smacked a 2-1 pitch into the left field stands for a 6-0 advantage.
The Padres finally got on the board in the fifth as Cabrera hit a two-out single and Hairston followed with a double to center to score Cabrera.
San Diego had men on first and third with no outs in the eighth, but Kouzmanoff struck out and Blanks hit into a double play to end the inning.
The game then went into a delay due to the bees, but when it resumed Berkman hit an RBI double to left that scored Bourn for a 7-1 lead.
Cabrera hit into a fielder's choice to plate Edgar Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth.
Game Notes
The Padres welcome the Dodgers to San Diego for a three-game set starting on Friday...Houston begins a three-game series in San Francisco on Friday...The Astros took six of seven against the Padres in the season series...San Diego went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine men on base.
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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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