Giants, Marlins ready for clash between scorching teams

Baseball Betting Lines

07/26/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the hottest teams in baseball square off this evening when the San Francisco Giants welcome the Florida Marlins to town for the start of a four-game series at AT&T Park.

San Francisco has won four straight and 14 of its last 17 to move within three games of the San Diego Padres in the National League West while claiming the Wild Card lead, 1 1/2 games in front of Cincinnati.

Rookie Buster Posey has been the fuel behind the Giants' recent surge, as he enters tonight's tilt riding an 18-game hitting streak, the second-longest in team history behind Willie McCovey's 22-gamer.

Posey continued to roll on Sunday, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI in the Giants' 3-2, 10-inning win over Arizona to complete a four-game sweep. He also needs one more RBI to move past Jim Ray Hart, who set a team rookie record with 24 RBI in one month in 1964.

"I'm seeing the ball well. That's my approach, try to see the ball and get the barrel on it. Keep it simple," a humble Posey said.

San Francisco may be able to keep rolling tonight, as scheduled starter Barry Zito is a perfect 5-0 lifetime against the Marlins. He beat them earlier in the year by allowing one run in seven innings and has pitched to a 2.15 earned run average in his six starts against Florida.

Zito, who is 8-5 with a 3.45 ERA, suffered a hard-luck loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, as he allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings of the 2-0 setback.

Florida, meanwhile, sliced into Atlanta's lead in the National League East this weekend by taking two of three from the Braves and has won seven of its last nine to get back to .500. In Sunday's rubber match, Wes Helms hit a run- scoring single in the bottom of the 11th inning, lifting the Marlins to a 5-4 win.

Helms ended with two hits, three RBI, and a run scored for the Marlins, who have not been over .500 since they were 28-27 on June 3.

Chris Volstad, who was recalled from Triple-A New Orleans prior to the game, lasted six frames for Florida in the start, allowing three runs on five hits. Jorge Sosa (2-2) pitched a scoreless two innings of relief to record the win.

Getting the call for the Marlins tonight will be righty Ricky Nolasco, who is 10-7 with a 4.50 ERA. Nolasco improved to 5-1 over his last six starts with a win over Colorado on Wednesday. He gave up two runs and four hits in eight innings of that one, as he moved past A.J. Burnett for second all-time in franchise history with 50 wins.

Nolasco is just 1-2 in three starts against the Giants, despite a 2.05 ERA.

San Francisco swept a three-game set from the Marlins earlier in the year and has won five of the last six meetings in the series.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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