Indians, Royals hope to get out of the basement in series opener

Baseball Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last place in the American League Central Division is up for grabs tonight, when the Cleveland Indians begin a six-game road trip with the first of three straight games against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

The Indians and Royals are both tied for last in the division with identical 49-69 records. Cleveland was able to salvage the finale of a three-game series versus Seattle with Sunday's 9-1 pounding of the Mariners in the finale of a three-game series to cap a nine-game homestand in which it went 3-6.

Justin Masterson threw six scoreless innings and Tony Sipp earned the win with a perfect ninth inning for Cleveland, which exploded for seven runs in the seventh inning thanks to Travis Hafner's grand slam. Jayson Nix also homered and Michael Brantley went 2-for-4 with a two-run blast, three RBI and a pair of runs scored.

"They are young and we're going to be up and down offensively," Indians manager Manny Acta said of the team's youth. "That seventh inning, guys put together some quality at bats."

Rookie Jeanmar Gomez looks to get some offensive support when he takes the mound Tuesday. He is 3-0 with a 1.54 earned run average over his first four major league starts and is coming off last Thursday's 4-1 win over Baltimore. He allowed one run on six hits over six innings with three K's.

The young righty has only made one away start this season and that was at Toronto on August 1, when he pitched five innings of two-run ball. Gomez will face the Royals for the first time tonight.

Kansas City is set to begin a six-game homestand versus the Indians and White Sox, and earned a split of a four-game series with the New York Yankees this weekend. After losing two of the first three portions of the lengthy set, the Royals recorded a 1-0 win Sunday behind eight shutout innings from former No. 1 pick Bryan Bullington.

Bullington scattered two hits, struck out five and issued only one walk for his first career victory, while All-Star closer Joakim Soria shut the door in the ninth for his 33rd save.

"This is a good day, that's for sure. It was a lot of fun. A long time coming, but I really enjoyed it," Bullington said of his first win.

Billy Butler drove in the only run of the game in the first inning for the Royals, who won for the second time in their previous eight contests.

Hoping to keep the winning ways intact will be Zack Greinke, who is scheduled to make his 24th start of the season today. Greinke did not record a decision his last time out in a 2-1 loss at the Angels, despite hurling eight strong innings of one-run ball. He allowed six hits and struck out six batters.

Greinke, last year's AL Cy Young Award winner, has alternated wins and losses over his past six decisions. The righty is 5-5 in 12 home starts and beat Cleveland at Kauffman Stadium back on May 13 this season in a 6-4 triumph. He fired six innings of three-run ball that day and is 7-8 with a 3.52 earned run average in 24 career games (19 starts) against Cleveland.

Cleveland took two of three meetings from the Royals at Kauffman Stadium earlier in the season, but the Royals responded with a sweep of a two-game set from May 19-20.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

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