Angels, Mariners to square off in battle of reeling clubs

Baseball Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of slumping American League West rivals get together tonight in the Emerald City, where the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim collide in the opener of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

The Mariners have dropped six straight games, while Anaheim enters tonight's tilt riding a seven-game slide. Both teams are last in the division standings, 3 1/2 games behind both Oakland and Texas.

Seattle is still winless on its nine-game homestand after getting swept in back-to-back series with the Rangers and Tampa Bay. In Thursday's 8-0 loss in the series finale with the Rays, Ryan Rowland-Smith had a rough outing and lasted just 4 1/3 innings, permitting six runs on seven hits and three walks.

"I'm a better pitcher than what's going on right now on the field," Rowland- Smith said after falling to 0-2 on the season.

Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jose Lopez provided the hits for the Mariners, who were outhit by a 12-4 margin and have lost 10 of their last 12 contests.

Seattle has been struggling offensively in 2010 and sits second-to-last in the majors in average (.230), slugging percentage (.321), runs (91) and RBI (86). The club also placed outfielder Milton Bradley on the restricted list Thursday. Bradley recently asked the team for help with some personal and emotional issues.

Felix Hernandez hopes to leave his current issues in the dust when he takes the bump for the Mariners tonight. Hernandez has lost two straight starts since opening the season 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA, and is coming off a rough outing versus Texas on Saturday.

The righty was reached for five runs and eight hits over a season-worst 4 1/3 innings pitched against the Rangers, falling to 2-2 in six starts and boosting his ERA to 3.10. Hernandez first lost on April 26 at Kansas City, where he yielded three runs -- two earned -- through seven innings.

"King Felix", who tossed a complete game on April 21 versus Baltimore, will make his 17th career start against the Angels and owns a 4-5 mark with a 4.20 ERA in this series.

Los Angeles is coming off a four-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and fell to 0-7 on a 10-game road trip. It entered the series in Beantown following a three-game seep by Detroit and blew an early 4-0 lead in last night's 11-6 loss to the Red Sox.

Scott Kazmir failed in his bid for his third win of the season by surrendering seven runs on six hits and five walks through 4 1/3 innings.

"I got behind on a lot of hitters, walked five guys. It's something where you're just fighting yourself," Kazmir said. "You're not going to have a good outcome when you're putting people on base every single inning."

Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer and Howie Kendrick ended with two hits and a pair of runs driven in for Anaheim.

The Angels will send Jered Weaver to the mound Friday with hopes of the right- hander rebounding from his first loss of the season. After beginning the year 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA in five starts, Weaver was pummeled by the Tigers in a 5-1 loss at Comerica Park on Sunday.

Weaver lasted a season-low 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs and seven hits, despite striking out seven batters and walking just one. He was coming off a six-inning stint against Cleveland in which he allowed only one run. The wiry right-hander's season ERA rose from 2.53 to 3.19.

The Long Beach State product is very familiar with the Mariners, as evidenced by his 8-3 record and 4.61 ERA in 14 career starts against them.

Los Angeles went 10-9 against the Mariners last season and has won three straight and five of the last seven matchups between the clubs. These two teams split 10 meetings at Safeco Field a season ago.

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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