Twins turn to Santana in hopes of averting sweep by Tribe

Baseball Betting Lines

05/17/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Converted reliever Fausto Carmona looks for a second straight successful outing against Minnesota when the Cleveland Indians host the Twins today in the final installment of a three-game series at Jacobs Field.

Carmona, who was 1-10 over 38 appearances, including seven starts, last season, has won four straight starts in 2007 since beginning the season with a loss and a no decision in his initial two appearances.

The 23-year-old Dominican faced the Twins on April 24 and out-pitched today's foe Johan Santana by allowing six hits and two runs over 7 2/3 innings in Cleveland's 5-3 victory at the Metrodome.

Since then, he's allowed 19 hits and four earned runs over 22 1/3 innings while defeating Baltimore twice and Oakland once. Lifetime against Minnesota, he is 1-1 with a 3.24 earned run average in six appearances (two starts).

Santana, who won his second American League Cy Young Award with a 19-6 record and a 2.77 ERA last season, allowed six hits and four runs in seven innings in the aforementioned meeting with the Indians and Carmona.

He's picked up a win, a loss and a no decision in three starts since, most recently dropping a 7-3 verdict to Detroit on Friday in which he gave up six hits and two runs in six innings.

Lifetime against Cleveland, he is 7-3 with a 3.21 ERA in 25 appearances (15 starts).

On Wednesday, C.C. Sabathia threw eight strong innings, retiring the final 12 batters he faced, and Trot Nixon drove in three runs to pace Cleveland to a 7-1 victory over the Twins.

Travis Hafner knocked in two runs and Casey Blake went 3-for-5 with an RBI and crossed the plate twice for the Indians, who have won all four meetings with the Twins this season and outscored them by a 34-14 margin.

Cleveland swept a brief two-game set against the Twins at the Metrodome from April 23-24.

Grady Sizemore had a pair of hits and scored three times in the win.

Sabathia (6-1) rebounded from his only loss of the season last Friday at Oakland, as the powerful left-hander allowed five hits and a run while walking one and striking out five. He threw 71 of his 103 pitches for strikes, as the Indians won their sixth straight home game.

Cleveland is a major-league best 13-3 as the host this season.

Nick Punto had two hits and knocked in the only run for the Twins.

Carlos Silva (2-4) dropped his third straight start for Minnesota and continued to get little run support. He was charged with seven hits and five runs through six innings.

The Twins have scored just one run over Silva's last three starts.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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