Crawford's homer in 11th leads Rays past Jays

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2007 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Crawford scored the tying run with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings and then homered in the 11th inning, lifting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays over the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, at Tropicana Field.

Crawford, who came on as a pinch-runner for Jonny Gomes in the ninth, ended the game and capped the comeback by homering over the wall in left-center on a 3-2 pitch from Brain Wolfe (2-1).

"I don't often hit home runs that way," said Crawford."That's the best feeling you're going to get."

Crawford didn't start the game because of an injured wrist and was in obvious pain earlier in the at-bat after swinging and missing.

"It didn't feel good," Crawford said. "Kind of hurt a little bit."

Gomes and B.J. Upton also homered for the Devil Rays, who rallied from a two- run deficit to win consecutive games after losing eight straight

Alex Rios had two hits, drove in a run and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who have lost three of four on their current six-game road trip. Troy Glaus and Vernon Wells drove in a run each for Toronto, which began to run into trouble in the late innings.

"We weren't in control," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "We had plenty of chances and we left to many guys on base."

Trailing by two runs, Upton started the rally in the eighth by hitting a solo homer off reliever Casey Janssen. Then, in the ninth, Gomes walked against closer Jeremy Accardo and Crawford came on to steal second. Crawford then moved to third on Greg Norton's fly out to right and scored when pinch- hitter Josh Wilson singled.

In the 10th, Tampa Bay closer Al Reyes left the go-ahead run at third, striking out Glaus and getting Wells to fly out to end in the inning. Then, in the bottom half, Brendan Harris was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Delmon Young's base hit up the middle. Shortstop John McDonald knocked down the grounder and then gunned down Harris.

Tampa Bay reliever Scott Dohmann (1-0) got the win. He pitched himself out of a bases-loaded jam on the top of the 11th, striking out Reed Johnson and getting Lyle Overbay to fly out to end the frame.

Toronto starter Dustin McGowan allowed just two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four, in six innings. The right-hander had won consecutive starts and was 7-3 over his last 10 decisions.

Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine avoided his seventh setback in as many decisions. The right-hander yielded four runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking three. He hasn't won since June 10.

Toronto started the scoring in the first inning. Overbay walked with one out and scored when Rios followed with a triple. Rios then scored when Glaus singled, ending an 0-for-13 slide.

McGowan had his scoreless innings streak halted at 15 in the third inning when Ben Zobrist scored on a wild pitch to make it a 2-1 game. Zobrist singled with two outs and moved to third on Akinori Iwamura's double that followed.

The Blue Jays regained the two-run lead in the fourth when Rios scored on a Wells sacrifice fly.

Gomes homered in the fifth to again make it a one-run game and the Devil Rays threatened in the sixth only to come up empty. After Young walked to load the bases with two outs, McGowan got out of trouble when he struck out Gomes looking.

Toronto added an insurance run in the seventh. With two outs, Gregg Zaun walked and McDonald singled, forcing Sonnanstine from the game in favor of the newly acquired Dan Wheeler. Johnson greeted Wheeler with an RBI single. However, after Overbay walked to load the bases, Wheeler got Rios to fly out to end the inning.

Game Notes

Prior to the game the Devil Rays activated pitcher Wheeler to the 25-man roster. The right-handed reliever was acquired from the Houston Astros on Saturday in exchange for IF/OF Ty Wigginton. He allowed one hit and one walk in 1 1/3 innings...To make room for Wheeler, the Devil Rays sent Jae Kuk Ryu to Triple-A Durham...Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura has a six-game hit streak...Gomes has 11 HRs this season...Upton has 14 HRs this year...Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected by third base umpire Tim Welke in the eighth inning for arguing a check swing by Iwamura. After being tossed, Gibbons jumped the dugout railing to have an animated argument with Welke...It was Tampa Bay's walkoff win of the year, seecond by a home run. It was Crawford's third career walkoff homer.

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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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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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