Cleveland's Carmona takes on Royals shooting for 17th win

Baseball Betting Lines

09/15/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fausto Carmona goes for win No. 17 this evening when the Cleveland Indians continue their three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Jacobs Field.

Carmona has been a pleasant surprise for the AL Central-leading Indians this season, going 16-8 with a 3.20 earned run average, just one year after finishing 1-10 with a 5.42 ERA.

The 23-year-old righty won his second straight start on Monday against the Chicago White Sox, as he allowed one earned run and three hits in seven innings.

Carmona has beaten the Royals twice already this season and is 2-0 against them in his young career with a 3.77 ERA in six games, four of which have been starts.

Kansas City will counter with right-hander Zack Greinke, who is 6-5 this season with a save and a 3.99 ERA. After three scoreless outings in his three starts since re-joining the rotation, Greinke was roughed up by the New York Yankees on Sunday for three runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings, but did not factor in the decision of his team's 6-3 loss.

Greinke has faced the Indians 14 times (nine starts) and is 3-5 against them with a 4.39 ERA.

In the first game of this set on Friday, Casey Blake hit a game-ending home run in the bottom of the ninth, as the Indians rallied from three back for a 5-4 win. Franklin Gutierrez started the comeback with a two-run homer in the seventh and Victor Martinez added a solo shot in the eighth for Cleveland, which remained in firm control of the AL Central by 5 1/2 games with the win.

Blake led off the home-half of the ninth and turned on a David Riske (1-4) offering, depositing it over the left-field wall before being mobbed by his teammates at home. It was the 12th time this season that Cleveland won in its final at-bat at home.

With the win, the Indians improved to 16-4 in their last 20 games overall with their eighth win in nine home contests. They have 45 victories at Jacobs Field, their most since finishing 48-33 in 2000.

C.C. Sabathia set a new career high with 13 strikeouts, but allowed four runs over seven innings. The bullpen was lights out from there, with Joe Borowski (4-5) picking up the win after a scoreless ninth.

Brian Bannister allowed just one run on two hits over six frames for the Royals, who have dropped eight of nine. Bannister's bullpen failed him, however. Mark Grudzielanek had two RBI in defeat.

The Indians have taken eight of their 13 meetings with the Royals this season, including five of seven encounters held at Jacobs Field. Kansas City is just 4-12 in Cleveland since the start of the 2006 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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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."

Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

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