Buck lifts A's over Jays in 12 innings

Baseball Betting Lines

04/11/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Buck drove in all three Oakland runs, including the game-winning, two-RBI double in the 12th inning, as the Athletics continued to thrive in international territory and outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2, to complete a three-game sweep at Rogers Centre.

Alex Rios and Vernon Wells both posted two hits for the Blue Jays, who swept Boston prior to this series but have now lost three straight.

Chris Denorfia led off the top of the 12th with a base hit to center, and was advanced to second after Bobby Crosby's ground out to third. With first base open, Toronto reliever Brandon League (0-1) intentionally walked Jack Hannahan, but then loaded the bases when he plunked Kurt Suzuki.

After Denorfia was out at the plate on an Emil Brown fielder's choice, Buck smacked a double to center, scoring Hannahan and Suzuki. The A's stranded an insurance run at third when Jesse Carlson replaced League on the mound and fanned Daric Barton, but still emerged with a 3-1 advantage.

The Blue Jays threatened in the home half of the 12th, but after Wells knocked in Rios with a single to center and Frank Thomas drew a four-pitch walk, Oakland reliever Keith Foulke induced a 6-4-3 double play to seal the victory.

Foulke notched his first save of the young season.

The contest was low scoring throughout and the visitors grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Buck's RBI double that plated Ryan Sweeney, who had singled with two outs.

Toronto, though, tied the score with a run in the home eighth. With Alan Embree on the hill, Marco Scutaro ripped a leadoff triple and scored on a one- out fly ball off the bat of Shannon Stewart.

Joey Devine (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A earlier in the day to earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.

Game Notes

Dana Eveland started for Oakland and tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts and three walks...Shaun Marcum tossed seven innings of one-run, six-hit ball with eight Ks...The contest took 3 hours, 54 minutes to complete...Earlier Thursday, the Athletics placed pitcher Rich Harden on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right shoulder. The move is retroactive to April 3 and marks Harden's sixth trip to the DL in the last four years. He was sidelined with a similar injury for most of the 2007 campaign, appearing in only seven games. The oft-injured righty also had two stints on the DL last season, two in 2006 and one in 2005.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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