Rockies extend San Diego's losing streak to eight

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki each hit a two-run homer, as the Colorado Rockies dealt San Diego an eighth consecutive defeat, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game series.

Aaron Cook (5-8), who was activated off the disabled list to make the start, got the win after limiting the Padres to two runs on four hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings.

The Rockies, who snapped a three-game skid, entered the weekend trailing the NL West-leading Padres by 7 1/2 games.

Meanwhile, San Diego's worst losing streak of the season continued with Friday's loss, but it did not lose any ground in the division. The Padres still hold a three-game lead over San Francisco because the Giants lost to Los Angeles on Friday.

Cory Luebke (0-1) made his major league debut for San Diego and pitched five innings in taking the loss. He walked two and allowed five hits, two of which were Colorado's home runs.

Luebke gave up Giambi's homer in the second inning, following a leadoff triple by Melvin Mora. The Rockies repeated that pattern in the third, when Carlos Gonzalez led off with a single before scoring on Tulowitzki's blast to center.

Armed with a 4-0 lead, Cook didn't run into serious trouble until the sixth, when he walked the bases loaded with one out. However, the Padres got only one run out of the situation, on a Chase Headley groundout. Will Venable popped out to end the threat.

But in the seventh, Chris Denorfia doubled with one away, prompting a pitching change. Samuel Deduno entered, but pinch-hitter Nick Hundley greeted him by blasting a homer to left field to bring the Padres within a run.

Deduno then walked David Eckstein before getting the second out of the inning before Franklin Morales was brought in to face Adrian Gonzalez, who singled. However, Rafael Betancourt entered and got the final out, then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.

Huston Street pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save.

Game Notes

Carlos Gonzalez went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games...Colorado leads the season series, 9-4...The Padres fell to 23-19 in one-run games...The losing streak is San Diego's longest since 2008, when it lost eight in a row from June 21-29.

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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.