Rasmus, Cardinals dominate Braves

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09/09/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Rasmus went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs and four RBI as St. Louis dominated Atlanta, 11-4, in the opener of a four-game set.

Skip Schumaker went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run and two runs scored while Brendan Ryan added two hits, two RBI and two runs scored for the Cardinals, who had dropped their previous two.

Adam Wainwright (18-10) bounced back from a rough first inning to get the win as he was charged with three runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts over eight innings. He snapped a four-start losing streak.

With the win and Cincinnati's loss to Colorado on Thursday, the Cardinals trimmed their deficit in the NL Central to five games.

Derrek Lee clubbed a two-run home run while Jason Heyward and Eric Hinske each drove in a run for the Braves, who have dropped six of their last eight. Jair Jurrjens (7-5) was tagged for seven runs on 10 hits with a walk and two strikeouts over just 3 2/3 innings.

The loss moved Atlanta to a game back of Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. Also, it trimmed Atlanta's wild card lead to 1 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco, which plays San Diego later on Thursday.

Atlanta plated three runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Omar Infante led off with a single that saw him move to third base on a pair of throwing errors. Heyward followed with a single to score Infante and Lee later added a shot over the right field wall, his 17th home run of the season.

St. Louis, though, answered to the tune of five runs in the second. Back-to- back one-out singles were followed by an RBI single from Pedro Feliz. Ryan later added a two-run single and Schumaker then hit the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the season.

The Cardinals made it a 7-3 game in the fourth as Randy Winn's sacrifice fly was followed by a solo shot from Albert Pujols.

Rasmus led off the fifth with a shot over the right field wall to give St. Louis an 8-3 lead.

A two-run single off the bat of Rasmus in the sixth extended the Cardinals' lead to 10-3.

Atlanta, meanwhile, struggled to get baserunners as over the next six innings Wainwright faced the minimum. The only batter to get on base was Nate McLouth, who led off the fifth with a single but was then forced out when Infante followed with a double play.

In the eighth, McLouth led off with a single, but Infante again grounded into a double play and Freddie Freeman struck out.

Rasmus' solo blast in the ninth made it an 11-3 game while Hinske added an RBI groundout in the Braves' portion of the ninth to account for the final score.

Game Notes

St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday was ejected in the fourth inning by home plate umpire Mike DiMuro for slamming his helmet on the ground after being called out on strikes...St. Louis has won all five matchups with Atlanta this season...Wainwright improved to 6-0 in nine games against the Braves...Jurrjens fell to 1-4 against St. Louis in five career starts and lost for the first time at home this season. He was 6-0 at Turner Field coming into the game...It was the second multi-HR game of Rasmus' career.

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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.

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