07/04/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two pitchers who have delivered vastly different results over the last month go head-to-head when the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics resume a four-game series tonight at U.S. Cellular Field.
Mark Buehrle is slated to take the mound for Chicago in search of a fifth consecutive winning decision. His counterpart this evening, Oakland's Joe Blanton, comes in having suffered five defeats over his last six outings.
Buehrle has produced an outstanding 1.15 earned run average over his unbeaten streak, having yielding one or less runs in four of those five starts. The quick-working lefty was sharp once again this past Sunday, when Buehrle limited the rival Cubs to one unearned run and six hits through seven frames to lead the White Sox to a 5-1 victory.
The 29-year-old hasn't lost since a May 27 setback at Cleveland and is 3-2 with a 2.96 ERA in seven home starts this season.
Buehrle has not fared well when facing the Athletics over the course of his career, however. He is just 3-10 in 22 lifetime appearances (18 starts) against Oakland, despite having posted a respectable 3.78 ERA over those games.
The three-time All-Star was dealt a tough-luck loss by the A's in Chicago back in April, with Buehrle allowing just two runs over seven innings in a 2-1 setback.
For the most part, Blanton has pitched better than his 4-11 season record would indicate, as the durable righty has often been the victim of poor run support. That wasn't the case his last time out, though, as Blanton was rocked for seven runs and lasted just four innings in a home loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
The former first-round draft choice did pitch very well in his previous start, a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia on June 24 in which Blanton held the Phillies to only one run and four hits over seven innings to stop a personal four-game losing streak.
During his 1-5 stretch, Blanton has posted an ugly 7.49 ERA and given up four or more runs in all but two of those six starts.
The 27-year-old is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in three career matchups with the White Sox, although that loss came during his lone start at U.S. Cellular Field back in May of last season.
Oakland got this holiday weekend series off to a good start on Thursday, stopping Chicago's seven-game win streak with a 3-2 decision.
Justin Duchscherer (9-5) led the way by throwing seven strong innings in which the All-Star candidate allowed two runs on five hits. Huston Street came on to record the final five outs and pick up his 16th save of the season.
Donnie Murphy snapped a 2-2 tie with a solo home run in the fifth inning, while Jack Cust belted a two-run shot for the Athletics, who had lost four of five entering last night's tilt.
Both long balls came against Javier Vazquez (7-7), who surrendered just four hits total and struck out 10 Oakland batters in a complete-game loss.
Dewayne Wise had a solo homer for the White Sox and Jermaine Dye finished 2- for-3 with an RBI double.
Chicago, which leads the American League Central by two games over Minnesota, had won nine straight and 18 of its last 20 tests at home prior to Thursday's loss. The White Sox are an excellent 30-12 as the host this season.
Oakland has won six of its seven most recent meetings with Chicago, although the A's are just 3-6 over their last nine games at U.S. Cellular Field.
These teams split a two-game series in the Windy City back in April.
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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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