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06/04/2008 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Torii Hunter knocked in two runs, as the LA Angels of Anaheim clipped the Seattle Mariners, 5-4, to complete a three-game sweep at Safeco Field.
LA starter Jered Weaver (5-6) gave up four runs and 10 hits in six innings of work. Francisco Rodriguez tossed a perfect ninth to notch his 24th save of the season.
Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick and Gary Matthews Jr. each had two hits, with Kendrick driving in a run for the Angels, winners of a season-best five straight. Mike Napoli and Brandon Wood each also had an RBI.
Carlos Silva (3-6) allowed five runs on eight hits in eight innings for the Mariners, who have dropped four in a row. A free-agent acquisition in the offseason, Silva has lost six straight decisions.
Jose Lopez hit a solo home run and finished with three RBI for Seattle, which concluded its nine-game homestand with a mark of 3-6. Lopez homered in each game of the series.
Ichiro Suzuki, Jeremy Reed and Raul Ibanez all had two hits.
The Angels jumped on Silva for three runs in the top of the first. Reggie Willits drew a leadoff walk and Izturis singled to left. A double by Kendrick put the visitors on the board. After Garret Anderson popped out to third, Hunter stroked a two-run single to left.
Seattle got a run back in the home half when Lopez tattooed a 2-1 fastball into the Angels bullpen. The Mariners manufactured another run in the second. Reed singled to start the inning, moved to second on a Richie Sexson groundout, advanced to third when Kenji Johjima's soft liner dropped in a for a hit and scored when Yuniesky Betancourt hit a slow roller to the second baseman.
In the bottom of the third, the Mariners got their first two men on but couldn't move them, and Los Angeles responded with a two-spot in the next frame. Hunter worked a walk to open the inning and a perfectly executed hit- and-run with Matthews at the plate put runners on the corners. Napoli followed with a sacrifice fly, with Matthews heading to second on the throw home. Wood then reached out and poked a single into the right-center field gap to give the Angels a 5-2 lead.
The Mariners narrowed the deficit to one in the home fourth. Sexson led off with a single and hustled to third when Suzuki hit a grounder back up the middle with two gone in the frame. Suzuki then stole second before Lopez smacked a two-run single to left.
Seattle had a rally snuffed out in the sixth. Betancourt kept the frame alive with a single and tried to score all the way from first on a Suzuki's line drive to left field, but the Mariners shortstop was tagged out at home.
Game Notes
The Angels recorded their first sweep of the year...Lopez's home run was his fifth of the season...Seattle left seven men on base, while the Angels stranded five.
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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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