Cubs ship Lilly and Theriot to Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs have traded pitcher Ted Lilly and infielder Ryan Theriot to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for infielder Blake DeWitt and a pair of minor league pitching prospects.

Chicago also sent cash considerations to the Dodgers and picked up right- handers Kyle Smit and Brett Wallach from LA.

Lilly had been rumored to be on the trading block all week leading up to Saturday's deadline. He is just 3-8 with a 3.69 earned run average in 18 starts this season, but has been a double-digit winner in each of the last seven years.

The 34-year-old lefty was 47-34 with a 3.70 ERA in four seasons with the Cubs and has also pitched for Toronto, Oakland, the New York Yankees and Montreal. He owns a career record of 106-92 with a 4.21 ERA in 298 games, all but 25 of which have been starts.

"We've been looking to improve our rotation and with Ted, we feel like we've got a very good group of starting pitchers for the stretch run," said Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti. "Ryan is versatile and can help us in the middle of the diamond as a nice complement to our existing infielders."

Theriot had spent his entire six-year career with the Cubs and this year was batting .284 with one homer and 21 runs batted in through 96 games. The 30- year-old Louisiana native is a career .287 hitter with 15 homers and 174 RBI in 609 games.

DeWitt was in his third season with the Dodgers. In 82 games this season, he was batting .270 with a homer and 30 runs batted in. After hitting .264 in 117 games as a rookie in 2008, he struggled and spent most of 2009 in the minors. In 31 games with the Dodgers last year, the 24-year-old batted a mere .204.

"Of all the times I've had to tell a player he was traded, this was one of the toughest telling Blake DeWitt," Colletti added. "His professionalism, his passion and who he is made doing this one of the toughest moves I've made."

Smit has split this season at Single-A and Double-A. The 22-year-old is 5-3 with six saves and a 2.35 ERA in a combined 37 appearances.

Wallach, the 21-year-old son of former major leaguer Tim Wallach, was 6-0 with a 3.72 ERA in 17 starts for Single-A Great Lakes this season.

Wwwgameland Baseball Betting News

<< Redskins' Haynesworth has swollen knee, sits out again
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth did not practice for a third straight day, though this time because of a swollen knee. Haynesworth was held out of practice Thursday and Friday

<< Sharks re-sign Setoguchi
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have re-signed restricted free agent forward Devin Setoguchi to a one-year contract. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Setoguchi, 23, posted 20 goals and 16 assists i

<< Cardinals get Westbrook from Tribe, send Ludwick to San Diego
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired pitcher Jake Westbrook from the Cleveland Indians in a three-team trade that also involves the San Diego Padres. Along with Westbrook, St. Louis acquired cash fr

<< Yankees and Astros finalize deal for Berkman
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees and Houston Astros have finalized a trade for first baseman Lance Berkman. Berkman and cash considerations will head to the Yankees in exchange for pitcher Mark Melancon and minor le

<< Diamondbacks and Pirates make trade
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired outfielder Ryan Church, infielder Bobby Crosby and pitcher D.J. Carrasco from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for catcher Chris Snyder, infielder Pedro Ciriaco

Former UNM asst. coach sues current coach, regents >>
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -A former assistant football coach at the University of New Mexico has filed a civil rights lawsuit stemming from an altercation involving coach Mike Locksley.J.B. Gerald filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Albu

Prado has fractured pinky >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Braves second baseman Martin Prado has a broken right pinky finger and could miss only a week. Prado was hurt during Friday's win against Cincinnati while sliding head-first into home plate on Jaso

Veteran WR Patten announces retirement >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Patten will not play a 13th NFL season in 2010, instead announcing his retirement as a member of the New England Patriots on Saturday. Patten played for the Patriots from 2001-04, during which tim

New York waives forward Wolyniec >>
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York waived forward John Wolyniec on Friday night. Wolyniec played in four regular season matches, including two starts, for New York this season. He also recorded four goals in four Lamar Hunt U

Starace, Ferrero reach Umag final >>
Umag, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero and Italian Potito Starace will contest the final at the clay-court Croatia Open after winning their respective semifinal matches Saturday. Ferrero, a former world No.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

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.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

MySportsbook is considered one of the finest football betting sportsbooks according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.

MySportsbook is a large company with strong financial backing. Considered the best sportsbook for betting football online You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs.