Rockies turn to Francis in the hopes of a sweep over Padres

Baseball Betting Lines

06/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In order for the Colorado Rockies to record their first road sweep since last August, starting pitcher Jeff Francis must pitch better than he has been this season. Francis will make his ninth start today in the finale of a three-game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Francis was 1-0 in his first two starts, but has gone 1-2 with a 4.54 earned run average in six trips to the hill since. Francis, who is fully recovered from a shoulder issue, has recorded back-to-back no-decisions and previously took the mound in Friday's 4-3 win over the LA Angels of Anaheim.

The lefty gave up three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings at the Big A and is 2-2 with a 3.53 ERA in eight starts this season. Francis is 1-1 in three road outings and will make his 19th career start against the Padres. He is just 5-10 over the first 18 matchups with San Diego.

Colorado has won the first two portions of this set and eight of 12 overall, and is coming off Tuesday's 6-3 victory over the Friars. Jason Hammel hurled six innings of three-run ball and a bevy of relievers went the rest of the way to preserve the triumph. Randy Flores, Joe Beimel, Matt Belisle, Rafael Betancourt and Huston Street combined to go three scoreless innings with Street fanning two batters in the ninth for his first save.

Clint Barmes belted a three-run homer and knocked in four runs, while Carlos Gonzalez homered for a second straight night for the Rockies, who won Monday's series opener, 10-6, behind Ubaldo Jimenez's 14th win of the season.

"We've been without that all year, it seems like," Barmes said of the power surge. "It's nice to actually have some guys kind of click together at the same time and kind of get some momentum offensively for our pitching."

The Rockies are four games behind the Padres for the NL West lead and haven't swept a road series since Aug. 18-20 against the Washington Nationals.

San Diego will try to salvage the finale of this series and entered this series fresh off a three-game sweep of the Florida Marlins. In Tuesday's loss, Wade LeBlanc dropped to 4-6 on the season after he surrendered three runs and two hits with eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

"He pitched great, really did," Padres manager Bud Black said of LeBlanc. "Made some adjustments from his last start in Tampa, carried those over tonight. Pitched into the seventh inning, which is what we need as we move forward."

Jerry Hairston Jr. homered for the NL West-leading Padres, who will send Clayton Richard to the hill in Wednesday's series finale. Richard had been 0-2 in five starts before beating the Marlins last Friday with six shutout innings and five K's. He improved to 5-4 with a 2.75 ERA in 15 starts.

Richard, a left-hander, threw five innings of three-run ball in a 6-5 loss to the Rockies for a no-decision on May 5. he is 0-1 in four career starts against Colorado.

The Rockies have won six of eight meetings with San Diego this summer after going 10-8 in the 2009 season series. They haven't swept a series at Petco Park since winning all three meetings from Sept. 21-23, 2007.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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