Dodgers, Penny hope to feast again on road-challenged Rockies

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06/03/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies can't win this season on the road or when Jeff Francis is on the mound. Both elements are in play tonight, when Colorado continues its three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.

Colorado is 0-8 on its current 10-game road trip, stretching its franchise- record road losing streak to 13 games. The Rockies are allowing 8.6 runs per game over their eight-game skid while scoring just four a game. They haven't won as the road team since May 9 at San Diego and have dropped 19 of their last 21 on the road.

The Rockies' current skid on the road is the longest in the majors since Seattle lost 15 straight from June 22-July 8, 2004. Detroit also lost 14 consecutive games as the visitor, but that skid spanned the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

Also, the Rockies are 3-8 are in Francis' 11 starts this year, but hope their ace can back on track tonight.

After winning 17 games last year, Francis is just 1-5 on the season with a 6.12 earned run average, and earned a no-decision last time out. The left- hander faced the Cubs in Chicago on Thursday, yielding three runs on six hits over five innings of work. It was an improvement from his previous outing, when he was rocked for six runs over six innings versus the Mets on May 24.

Francis has faced the Dodgers twice this year, getting a no-decision on April 27 before falling at home to them on May 2. In his career, the lefty is 4-2 with a 2.96 earned run average in 11 career starts versus Los Angeles.

The Dodgers, though, counter with a struggling ace of their own. Having already lost two more games than he did all of last season, Brad Penny takes the hill for the Los Angeles and seeks his 10th straight winning decision against the Rockies.

Penny, who went 16-4 last year, has lost consecutive starts and is 0-4 over his last five outings to fall to 5-6 with a 5.66 ERA this year. The right- hander was tagged for six runs (5 earned) on eight hits over just four innings versus the Mets on Thursday.

Penny won four straight starts from April 16-May 2, winning the last two in that run versus the Rockies. He has given up three runs in each outing versus Colorado this year, but the Dodgers have also scored 11 runs in each of those starts.

In 23 career starts against the Rockies, Penny is 14-2 with a 3.06 ERA.

Los Angeles won the first five games of this year's season series with the Rockies until Colorado took the finale of a three-game home set on May 4. However, the Dodgers bounced back with an 8-2 win in Monday's opener, and are outscoring the Rockies 55-34 so far this season.

Derek Lowe (3-5) allowed one run over eight solid innings and Matt Kemp went 3-for-5 with a home run for Los Angeles. Lowe was supported by an offense that pounded out 11 hits and was led by Kemp, who added a pair of doubles to his homer.

Jeff Kent and Andre Ethier also homered for Los Angeles, which snapped a two- game slide and earned just its second win in its past eight games.

Rockies starter Greg Reynolds (0-3) gave up six runs -- four earned -- on seven hits in five innings of work. Todd Helton collected three hits while Garrett Atkins and Yorvit Torrealba each had an RBI for Colorado.

Atkins and Helton have each homered this year off of Penny and are hitting a combined .333 (31-for-93) off him in their careers with four homers and 11 RBI.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW 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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