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Rockies' Cook, Francis on opposite ends
Baseball Betting Lines
05/15/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Aaron Cook is responsible for 40 percent of his team's wins this season. Now raise your hand if you thought that would be the circumstance by mid-May.
If you did raise your hand then you're a liar because odds are Jeff Francis would have been the easy favorite. But that's not the case, at least so far this season, since last year's ace has yet to sniff a victory in the new campaign. Instead of Francis racking up the wins and breaking records early in the 2008 campaign, it has been Cook reveling in success.
Cook is 6-0 with a 1.90 earned run average in his last six trips to the mound. The six victories in six straight starts is a Colorado record, while Bill Swift, Pedro Astacio, Brian Bohanon and Jason Jennings each won five straight starts. Cook is 6-1 with a 2.26 ERA in eight total outings this season, and has pitched no less than six innings in each of those starts.
The right-hander certainly has caught the National League by surprise, especially after going 8-7 with a 4.12 earned run average in 25 appearances during the Rockies' run to the World Series in 2007.
"He's staying in a real good place in the game," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said of Cook. "Obviously, the string is most impressive and might be as impressive as anybody we had here."
Colorado (15-25) hasn't had many aces come through the organization, but the sentiments from Hurdle are very flattering for the aforementioned pitcher. Cook will face his biggest test of the season on Thursday against Arizona Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb. Webb is an impressive 8-0 through his first eight starts of the season.
Even though the team has struggled mightily this season, Cook has been much like Andy Dufresne from the movie 'The Shawshank Redemption.' Dufresne crawled through 500 yards of sewage to get away, sort of how Cook escapes the reality of losing on the mound for his ballclub. Dufresne came out clean as a whistle, which conveys exactly how Cook looks this year for a beleaguered ballclub that has lost four straight and 17 of its last 23 contests.
To stay on that losing note, Francis is sporting an 0-4 mark and a 6.27 earned run average in eight outings this season. He is 0-2 with a 6.52 ERA over his last five starts, including a terrible performance the previous time out on May 13 at Arizona. Francis lasted a season-low 4 2/3 innings and gave up a season-high eight runs and 13 hits in an 8-4 loss to the Diamondbacks. He began his career with a 7-1 record against Arizona, but has dropped his last four regular-season starts against the D'Backs.
The left-handed Francis is scheduled to take the mound again on May 18 versus the Minnesota Twins. Francis went 17-9 with a 4.22 earned run average in 34 starts during Colorado's run to glory a year ago.
ROCKIES MAKE A FEW ROSTER MOVES
The struggling Rockies have placed pitcher Ryan Speier on the 15-day disabled list because of a right shoulder contusion. The move is retroactive to May 12.
Speier, a right-hander, was injured on May 11 when he was struck by a line drive off the bat of San Diego's Tadahito Iguchi. He has a record of 1-1 with a 3.38 earned run average in 15 games this season.
Colorado then recalled lefty Josh Newman from Triple-A Colorado Springs to fill the vacant roster spot. Newman appeared in four games for the Rockies from April 25 through May 3, recording a 3.86 ERA with no record.
WHO'S HOT
Besides starter Cook, Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins is riding a 12-game hitting streak in which he is batting .383 with a home run, five RBI and five multi-hit games. Atkins leads the ballclub with a .337 batting average, seven home runs and 26 RBI this season.
WHO'S NOT
Francis is an easy choice for this category, but so is first baseman Todd Helton. Despite his .305 batting average over the last 10 games, Helton has just 11 hits with no homers and two RBI over that span.
ON DECK
The Rockies are 10 games below the .500 mark for the first time since the end of the 2006 campaign. After it wraps up a six-game road trip on Thursday at Arizona, Colorado will open a nine-game homestand at Coors Field versus Minnesota, San Francisco and the New York Mets.
Colorado is 7-10 as the host in 2008, while toting an 8-15 road ledger.
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Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value
If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture. Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).
For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot. The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.
TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.
"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,' it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."
"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.
Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash. Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win.
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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