Upton, Rays rout Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

08/18/2012 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays lit up Jered Weaver and the Angels en route to a 12-3 romp in the second meeting of a four- game series.

The Rays won the opener of the set, 7-0, on Thursday, marking the fourth time they shut out the Angels already this year.

On Friday, their bats shined against one of the best arms in the game in Weaver (15-3), who came in leading the AL in ERA.

After just three-plus innings, Weaver's ERA grew more than a half-run to 2.74 as he yielded nine runs on eight hits and two walks while losing consecutive starts for the first time in over a year.

Upton went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, Jose Molina also homered and drove in three runs and Ben Zobrist added a solo shot in the rout.

The offensive surge backed a quality start from James Shields (11-7), who gave up three runs on seven hits over six frames.

Upton and Zobrist hit solo shots in the first and second inning, respectively, and Erick Aybar countered with a solo blast of his own in the home third. It marked the first time the Angels scored against the Rays in 35 innings.

The Rays answered emphatically with seven runs in the fourth.

A single and two walks preceded consecutive run-scoring singles by Sean Rodriguez and Ryan Roberts. A Molina base hit to center brought home two more and Desmond Jennings' RBI double ended Weaver's outing.

Upton greeted LaTroy Hawkins with a two-run single to cap the flurry.

Howie Kendrick hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, and Zobrist scored in Tampa Bay's next at-bat on a Rodriguez groundout.

Molina added another run with a leadoff homer off Jason Isringhausen in the eighth, and Elliot Johnson's sacrifice fly in the ninth accounted for the final tally.

Game Notes

The last time Weaver lost two straight starts was during a four-start slide from May 2-May 18, 2011 ... The Angels fell to 17-3 in Weaver's last 20 home starts ... Rodriguez had three of the Rays' 17 hits ... Torii Hunter had three hits for the Angels ... Tampa Bay is 7-1 against the Angels this season.

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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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