Morneau healthy and carrying Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American League pitchers and a nagging back haven't been able to slow down Justin Morneau, and Joe Mauer's heel injury likely won't either.

The first baseman's production didn't suffer last season while Mauer missed the entire first month, a span in which Morneau hit .318 with five homers and 18 RBI.

Had he not been derailed for the last 21 games of the season due to a stress fracture in his lower back, the slugger would have likely matched career-highs in a number of offensive categories.

Mauer's following typically overshadows the fact there are two superstars playing in Minnesota.

Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP, has averaged a .292-30-118 stat line over the past four years, and has been an absolute RBI machine during that time.

His 470 total RBI from '06-'09 are the fourth most in the majors, trailing only Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

That is quite exquisite company, given that all of the above are former MVPs.

Morneau, who has the best on-base percentage in the MLB entering weekend play, has paced the Twins to start the season. He hit .347 with five homers and 17 RBI in the month of April.

It appears the native of New Westminster, B.C. is well on his way to another monster season. Despite plenty of talent at the corner position, Morneau remains one of the game's most consistent sources of power in that realm.

The Twins are currently sitting in first place and enjoying the confines of a new ballpark where, ironically, Morneau has yet to homer. Suffice it to say, however, that before long Morneau will be making Target Field his launching pad.

HOT START

With Lou Piniella's decision to send Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen, the title of "staff ace" was claimed by Ryan Dempster.

And Dempster has been nothing short of his usual self in that role; durable and consistent.

Dating back to last season, Dempster has thrown at least six innings in 18 of his past 19 starts.

As Zambrano can now attest, Dempster has seen his role switch between the rotation and bullpen throughout his career.

He compiled 87 saves as the Cubs closer from 2005-2007 and has gone 28-15 as a starter the past two seasons, logging 200 plus innings in both.

Dempster has continued to throw superbly to start this season. The right- hander has held opposing teams to three runs or fewer in five of his six starts and is sporting a 2.95 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.

He ranks in the top 10 in strikeouts, innings pitched and WHIP among National League starting pitchers.

THE BIG CHILL

One player who's not enjoying a change in scenery is New York Mets outfielder Jason Bay.

Bay, who signed with the Mets in the offseason, struggled to find any consistency during his first month in the Big Apple. New York signed the 31- year-old to big money in the hopes it would get the same bat that went for 30 home runs and 100 RBI in four of the last five seasons.

But entering weekend play, Bay was hitting just .238 with 1 homer and 9 RBI. The month of May hasn't been too kind to the slugger either, as Bay is coming off a recent six-game road trip in which he went 3-for-23 and collected just one extra-base hit.

CANADIAN MLB RUNDOWN

Joey Votto: Ranks among the top 10 leaders in the NL in walks and OBP. Votto is known to be a pure hitter with plenty of power but he also added the running component to his game this season. He has already attempted more steals than last year and matched his total output with four swipes on the season.

Rich Harden: The right-hander has allowed the most free passes in the AL this season but is coming off his best start as a Texas Ranger. Harden lasted seven innings against his former team, Oakland, to earn his second victory of the season. He allowed two hits, no runs and struck out nine, while issuing no walks.

Blake Hawksworth: The second-year reliever started the year where he left off last season. On May 1, Hawksworth had an impressive streak of 20 2-3 innings without allowing an earned run snapped (dating back to last year). In his '09 rookie campaign, he appeared in 30 games, and went 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.

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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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