Redding, Nats edge reeling Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/27/2008 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Redding pitched six solid innings and Ryan Zimmerman hit his first home run since May 17, as the Washington Nationals held on for a 5-4 win over the reeling Los Angeles Dodgers, in the second installment of a three-game series from Nationals Park.

Redding (9-8) allowed eight hits, including three solo home runs, while issuing one walk and zero strikeouts to get the win, while Lastings Milledge, Ronnie Belliard and Jesus Flores had an RBI each for the Nationals, who won back-to-back games for the first time since taking both games of a doubleheader August 7 against Colorado.

Greg Maddux (6-11) dropped his second consecutive start since joining the Dodgers last week in a trade with the San Diego. The veteran right-hander surrendered four runs -- two earned -- on eight hits and one walk while failing to record a strikeout in 5 1/3 frames. Maddux was rocked for seven runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings of an 8-1 setback to Philadelphia last week.

Casey Blake, James Loney and Andre Ethier each hit a solo home run while Ethier also doubled twice in a 3-for-5 effort. Loney also doubled and finished 3-for-5 while Blake had a pair of RBI with as many hits.

The Dodgers have dropped a season-high six straight games and eight straight away from Chavez Ravine. They've also lost eight of their last nine overall and failed to take advantage of San Diego's three-game sweep of the NL-West leading D'Backs. The Dodgers remain three back.

The Nats came back to manufacture a run in the home half of the second and pulled ahead in the third. Milledge started the second frame with a single, stole second, moved to third and then raced home on consecutive groundouts.

Willie Harris and Cristian Guzman started the third with singles before Zimmerman grounded into a force out at second. Milledge plated a run with a fielder's choice and Belliard followed with an RBI single through the left side. Flores ended the rally with a double-play groundout.

The Nats added to their lead in the fourth as Emilio Bonifacio lined a single to center, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored when second baseman Jeff Kent misplayed a grounder from Harris and overthrew home in an attempt to get the runner.

LA made it a one-run affair in the fifth on an Ethier solo home run to right, his 17th of the season, but Zimmerman made it 5-3 with a towering solo shot to dead-center off Chan Ho Park in the seventh.

The Dodgers put runners on the corners to start the eighth when Manny Ramirez and Loney started things with back-to-back singles off Saul Rivera. Russell Martin went down swinging and Nomar Garciaparra popped weakly to second but Blake managed a broken-bat looper to left making it a 5-4 game. Rivera walked pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney to load the bases before exiting in favor of Joel Hanrahan, who retired Matt Kemp on a fly ball to left with just two pitches.

Hanrahan remained in the ninth and induced Ethier into a groundout, set down Kent on strikes and Ramirez stroked a single to center. Loney followed with a fly ball to left, ending the game and giving Hanrahan his sixth save of the season.

Loney started things in the second for LA with a leadoff homer to right, his 11th of the season. After a Martin single and a double-play ball from Garciaparra, Blake made it 2-0 with a home run over the wall in left, his 16th of the season.

Game Notes

Los Angeles swept a three-game series versus Washington at Dodger Stadium from July 25-27 and is 11-3 over its past 14 meetings with the Nationals...The Dodgers recalled third baseman Blake DeWitt from Triple-A Las Vegas Wednesday and designated utilityman Pablo Ozuna for assignment...The Dodgers fell to 0-5 on their current 10-game road trip...Friday's series finale will feature starters Clayton Kershaw (2-4) for Los Angeles and John Lannan (7-12) for Washington...Maddux's 353 career wins is still one shy of tying Roger Clemens for eighth on the career list. He has dropped three straight starts overall since winning three in a row.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.