Rays continue road trip in Toronto
Baseball Betting Lines
09/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Although the Tampa Bay Rays still stand a good chance of reaching the postseason, they haven't played like a playoff participant over most of the team's current road trip. The American League Wild Card leaders will attempt to get back on track when they head to Toronto's Rogers Centre tonight for a battle with the fellow AL East-member Blue Jays.
After opening this nine-game trek with a victory at Baltimore on September 3, the Rays have lost four of five contests to fall 2 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. Tampa Bay also lost a bit of ground to Boston in the Wild Card race, with the Red Sox closing to within 6 1/2 games after coming through with an 11-5 win over the Rays Wednesday at Fenway Park.
Tampa jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings, but Boston stormed back by battering starter Matt Garza and three other Rays pitchers for 17 hits, five of which were home runs.
Garza (14-8) served up four of the long balls and surrendered six runs and nine hits before being removed after only 4 1/3 innings.
"It's not a surprise," said Garza of his poor showing. "I just left some heavy heaters up, and they hit everything. There was spin on breaking balls, and they knew it was coming. I'm a fastball-type guy, and they sat on my fastball."
B.J. Upton belted a three-run homer in the second inning for Tampa, with Jason Bartlett contributing an RBI double later on in the loss.
Despite their problems on this swing, the Rays still own the best road record in the majors at 41-29. They've struggled in their visits to Toronto, however, having lost four of six games at the Rogers Centre thus far in 2010. The Blue Jays swept a three-game set with Tampa Bay north of the border from August 6-8.
Brett Cecil has given the Rays plenty of trouble this season as well. The young Toronto lefty is 3-1 with a 2.63 earned run average in four starts against Tampa in 2010, including an August 6 triumph at the Rogers Centre in which he yielded just one run on four hits and fanned nine batters over seven sharp innings.
Cecil has put together a very solid first full season in the big leagues, with the 24-year-old bringing a 12-7 record and a 3.76 ERA over 24 starts into tonight's assignment. His most recent victory came against the division- leading Yankees on Sunday, when the 2007 supplemental first round draft choice allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings of work.
In six starts and one relief appearance lifetime against Tampa Bay, Cecil has gone 4-2 with a 3.29 ERA.
He'll be attempting to halt a two-game losing streak for the Blue Jays, with both defeats taking place at home against AL West front-runner Texas. Toronto mustered just six hits in dropping Wednesday's series finale by a 4-2 count.
Lyle Overbay and Jose Bautista both hit solo homers to account for the lone Toronto runs, with Bautista's blast extending his major league-leading total to 44 this season. The Blue Jays also top the majors as a team in that category, having belted 218 long balls on the year, and have now gone deep in 11 consecutive games.
James Shields is fully aware of the power Toronto possesses in its lineup. In his most recent encounter with the Blue Jays, the Tampa hurler permitted a career-worst six homers and eight runs total on nine hits in a forgettable four-inning stint at the Rogers Centre on August 7. The durable righty will try to bounce back from that shelling when he takes the mound for tonight's opener of this three-game set.
Shields was also hit hard in his last start, an 8-4 loss at Baltimore on Saturday in which he was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He had won three straight outings prior to that setback, however.
The 28-year-old is 6-5 with a 4.18 ERA over 14 career starts against Toronto, but is just 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA in five career visits to the Rogers Centre and has allowed a whopping 14 homers in 33 1/3 innings at the venue.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
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