Cook leads Rockies into finale at Reds

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07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suburban Cincinnati native Aaron Cook returns home to face a team that's never beaten him today, when the Colorado Rockies head to Great American Ball Park to meet the Reds in the finale of a three-game series.

The hosts have won the initial two games, including Saturday, when Edinson Volquez made a triumphant return to the mound and was backed by four home runs in an 8-1 Reds win.

Volquez (1-0), who last appeared in a major league game on June 1, 2009, struck out nine over six innings, walked two and yielded just three hits.

Two of those came in the first inning when Dexter Fowler doubled and Carlos Gonzalez brought in the only Colorado run with a single.

The 27-year-old Volquez had been out after ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow. It was his first win since May 5, 2009 against the Marlins.

Drew Stubbs smacked two homers and drove in three runs, while Brandon Phillips cracked a three-run shot. Jonny Gomes had two RBI and added a solo home run as Cincinnati won its second straight in this three-game set.

Jorge De La Rosa (3-2) was rocked for a second straight outing coming off a finger injury that shelved him for more than two months.

In 3 1/3 innings, he gave up seven runs - six earned - on four hits and five walks as the Rockies fell for a third consecutive game.

Cook, who was born 31 years ago in nearby Fort Campbell, Ky., is 2-0 with a 5.12 earned run average in eight lifetime meetings with the Reds, including eight starts.

He was drafted by the Rockies out of high school in 1997 - second round - and debuted in the majors five years later with nine appearances at the end of the 2002 season.

He won a career-best 16 games in 2008 and returned to win 11 more a season later, but has struggled through 17 starts this season with just three wins and an ERA that's hovered around 5.00.

Cook was a 7-3 winner over San Francisco in a July 1 game, then was tagged for 10 hits and five runs in a no-decision against Louis on July 7 - a game Colorado won, 8-7.

The Rockies are 8-9 in his 17 starts, though the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is winless - 0-5, 6.70 ERA - in nine road starts.

Cincinnati counters with lefty Travis Wood, a former second-round draft pick in 2005. He seeks his first big-league win in his fourth start.

The 23-year-old was on the verge of a gem in his most recent outing, carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning against Philadelphia before the Reds eventually lost, 1-0, in extra innings as part of a four-game sweep.

Wood struck out eight Phillies and lowered his opponents' batting average to .127 in his three starts.

Previously, he'd allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 11 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets - games both won by the Reds.

This will be Wood's first appearance in Cincinnati.

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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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