Saunders, Angels salvage game with Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2007 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Saunders hurled seven solid innings, and Garret Anderson homered as the LA Angels of Anaheim downed Minnesota, 7-2, in the finale of a three-game set at the Metrodome.

Saunders (4-0), who was called up from Triple-A Salt Lake before the game to take the spot in the rotation previously held by Ervin Santana, allowed just two runs on six hits while walking one and fanning five.

Anderson was 2-for-4 for the Angels and his long ball snapped a 14-game homerless drought for the team. Meanwhile, Robb Quinlan and Casey Kotchman each drove in a pair of runs for LA, which avoided a sweep in the series and now stands two games ahead of Seattle in the AL West.

Jeff Cirillo and Justin Morneau each had an RBI for the Twins, who have lost four of six.

Matt Garza (1-2) allowed four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of work en route to the loss.

The Angels jumped on top quickly with a run in the first. With runners at first and second and two down Garza lost the strike zone. The starter issued consecutive walks to Kotchman and Maicer Izturis to force in a run.

Los Angeles added another run in the second thanks to some shoddy fielding. Nathan Haynes reached second when Jason Bartlett threw away his ground ball and Chone Figgins followed by slapping an RBI single up the middle.

Anderson made it 3-0 in the third when he blasted a one-out solo homer to right, his fourth of the year.

The Twins got on the board in the home half of the third. Consecutive singles by Luis Rodriguez, Nick Punto and Bartlett loaded the bases before Cirillo lofted a sacrifice fly to left that made it a 3-1 game. Saunders averted any further damage by inducing Joe Mauer to hit into a 4-6-3 twin-killing.

The Angels got that run back in the sixth. Consecutive one-out singles by Kotchman and Izturis and a walk to Mike Napoli loaded the bases and chased Garza from the game. Juan Rincon entered and promptly issued a walk to Quinlan that made it a 4-1 game. The reliever did get Haynes to line into a double play after that to end the threat.

Minnesota made it a 4-2 game in the sixth. Cirillo laced a one-out double to left and came around to score on Morneau's two-out RBI single up the middle.

Los Angeles answered again in the seventh. Figgins singled and moved to third on an Orlando Cabrera base hit. Rincon managed to fan Vladimir Guerrero but Twins manager Ron Gardenhire went to Dennys Reyes from there. After Cabrera swiped second and Reyes intentionally walked Anderson to load the bases, Kotchman hit a sac fly to center to make it 5-2.

Consecutive doubles by Napoli and Quinlan in the eighth extended LA's advantage to four, 6-2.

Kotchman's run-scoring double in the ninth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Saunders filled the hole on the roster created when catcher Jose Molina was traded to the New York Yankees for a minor league pitcher Jeff Kennard on Saturday...Saunders last threw at the major league level against Pittsburgh back on June 22, a game in which he allowed four runs on seven hits and fanned three in six innings of work.

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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

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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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