Giants send Zito to the hill aiming for another sweep of Astros

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05/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco's Barry Zito will try to rebound from a wild first loss of the season as the Giants try for their second sweep this year of the Houston Astros in today's finale of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Zito, who entered the season 31-43 over the past three seasons with the Giants, won his first five decisions, spanning six starts, before taking a loss versus the Padres on Tuesday. The left-hander allowed three runs on six hits over five innings and also matched a career high with seven walks, falling to 5-1 on the season with a 1.90 earned run average.

Zito, who turned 32 on Thursday, got his season off on the right foot versus Houston on April 6, hurling six scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 3-0 triumph. He improved to 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA in four career starts versus the Astros.

While Zito hopes he isn't entering a cold stretch, Brett Myers brings a solid four-start run into his outing today for the Astros.

The right-handed Myers has held opponents to three earned runs or fewer in each of his last four starts, going 2-1 in that span. Myers picked up a victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings of a 6-3 triumph.

Myers is also doing a good job at keeping teams in the park. He gave up 18 homers in 18 games with the Phillies last year, but has yielded just four this season.

The 29-year-old made his Astros debut on April 7 versus the Giants and allowed four runs on a career-high 12 hits over six innings of a no-decision.

Myers will try to help the Astros snap a seven-game losing streak to the Giants, who swept them in three games in Houston back on April 5-7. San Francisco was able to extend that run last night by winning a close 2-1 game.

Tim Lincecum gave up the lone Houston run over eight innings to improve to 5-0 on the season, while Brian Wilson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning to earn his eighth save.

"I had a few starts in my first year -- three in a row -- where I thought I was going to get sent down. I just let things unravel as opposed to just taking a deep breath," Lincecum said of his growth as a pitcher. "I'm here for a reason. I have confidence that my defense is going to make a play. I don't need to strike everybody out."

Lincecum once again outdueled Houston's Roy Oswalt, who took the loss in a seven-inning effort. The right-hander made just one mistake, a slider that Juan Uribe hit out of the park for a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Uribe ended 3-for-3 on the night for the Giants.

"I needed to probably throw a shutout," said Oswalt, who has yet to get more than four runs of support in any of his eight starts this year. "The pitch kind of backed up on me on the slider. I was trying to go down and away, and it kind of went back over the plate."

Michael Bourn had a hit, walked twice, stole three bases and scored Houston's lone run on a wild pitch in the first inning. Houston went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 men on the bases.

The Astros had won four straight coming into this series, while the Giants had been swept in three games by the Padres.

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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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