McCutchen's hit in ninth lifts Pirates over Tribe
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06/25/2009 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrew McCutchen singled in Jack Wilson with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to boost Pittsburgh over Cleveland, 3-2, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
McCutchen, playing in just his 20th major league game, had two RBI and provided the Pirates with their first walk-off win of the season. Wilson had three hits as Pittsburgh won its second straight following a five-game skid.
Ross Ohlendorf allowed five hits and two runs in seven innings in the start for the Pirates. Matt Capps (1-3) tossed the ninth inning for the victory.
Cliff Lee yielded four hits and two runs in seven frames in the start for the Indians, who lost for the eighth time in nine games.
Victor Martinez hit a solo homer and scored both Cleveland runs.
Wilson singled to left and pinch-hitter Eric Hinske went the other way for a base hit to left field to start the ninth inning against Matt Herges (2-1). McCutchen then singled on a soft liner to left field.
Shin-Soo Choo doubled in Martinez in the third and it became 2-0 in the sixth on a Martinez lead-off homer to center.
The Pirates cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame, an inning that saw the ejection of Pittsburgh manager John Russell. McCutchen doubled to left, went to third on a groundout from Nyjer Morgan and scored on a Freddy Sanchez sacrifice fly.
Russell was ejected by home plate umpire Jerry Layne after Morgan argued that he was hit by a pitch on his finger while trying to bunt.
McCutchen walked with the bases loaded in the seventh, but the Pirates failed to go ahead as Morgan hit into a force play.
Both teams wasted golden opportunities in the eighth after loading the bases. John Grabow walked them full, but got pinch-hitter Ryan Garko on strikes to end the top portion. In the bottom half, Joe Smith and Rafael Perez combined to load the sacks on walks, but Jason Jaramillo grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Game Notes
The teams combined to strand 18 runners...The result gives the Pirates three straight winning series at home...They have gone 7-4 in the first 11 series played at PNC Park this season...McCutchen extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest by a rookie in the majors this season...The Indians play at home against Cincinnati this weekend, while the Pirates host Kansas City.
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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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