Longoria's clutch hit helps Rays keep pace with Yankees

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria singled in Ben Zobrist with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Rafael Soriano survived a shaky ninth as the Rays edged Toronto, 2-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Sean Rodriguez homered in the fifth inning off Shaun Marcum, as the Rays remained a game behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East. New York edged Oakland, 4-3, on Wednesday.

David Price (16-6) added to his club-record in victories by pitching eight solid innings, allowing four hits, including a homer to John Buck in the fifth. Price also had two walks and fanned seven batters to move his career mark to 6-0 in seven lifetime starts against Toronto.

Marcum gave up five hits and fanned seven over six frames. Shawn Camp (4-3) was hit with the loss, Toronto's third in four games.

The Rays, who posted their fourth victory in five games, barely pulled it out with Soriano getting his major league-best 40th save. Vernon Wells tripled to left-center with one out in the ninth. Adam Lind then struck out and Buck flied out to the warning track in left.

Buck started the fifth with a homer, but Rodriguez tied it with one out in the bottom half of the frame. Tampa Bay wasted a bases-loaded chance later in the inning when Dezmond Jennings grounded a ball back to the mound, and Marcum made a great stop and flip to home for the force play.

The Rays stranded a runner at third in the seventh, but Zobrist walked in a pinch-hitting role with one out in the next frame. Scott Downs then entered from the bullpen, but Carl Crawford singled to left field. Longoria followed with a ground single to left and the throw home was late.

Brad Hawpe struck out swinging to leave the bases full before Soriano survived the ninth.

Game Notes

Soriano's 40 saves are the third-most in a season by a Ray, trailing only Roberto Hernandez (43 in 1999) and Danys Baez (41 in 2005)...Blue Jays left fielder Fred Lewis left the game due to an injured elbow...The Rays (82-51) assured themselves of becoming just the seventh team all-time to follow 10- plus losing seasons with three straight winning campaigns, joining the Philadelphia/KC A's (3 times, 1915-27; 1934-49 and 1953-70); Boston Braves (1903-1916), Washington Senators (1901-14) and Montreal Expos (1969-81)...Before the game, the Blue Jays recalled catcher J.P Arencibia from Triple-A Las Vegas and reinstated pitcher David Purcey from the 15-day disabled list.

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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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