A-Rod hopes for another milestone against Kyle Davies

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07/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez continues his quest to become the youngest player to 600 home runs this afternoon when the New York Yankees resume their four-game series with the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium.

On Saturday, Rodriguez is hoping history repeats itself, as he will face the pitcher who served up his 500th home run nearly three years ago in Kyle Davies.

"To me, it's another ballgame. I want to continue the path I've been on," Davies said. "If he hits 600, so be it. As long as we win the game."

Rodriguez should easily become the youngest player to reach the milestone. Babe Ruth hit his 600th at age 36, while Rodriguez does not turn 35 until July 27.

Ruth may have reached the milestone quicker, hitting No. 600 in his 6,921st at-bat, but Rodriguez's pace (8,646 at-bats entering play Saturday) trails only that of Barry Bonds (8,212) and eclipses Willie Mays (9,514) and Henry Aaron (10,009).

Davies, meanwhile, is looking for his first win since defeating Boston back on May 28. He has gone 0-3 in his last eight outings.

The last time the Georgia native was on the hill he allowed three runs on 10 hits in seven innings of work against Toronto. Kansas City eventually defeated the Blue Jays in that contest, 5-4, but Davies did not factor in the decision.

This will be the third career start for Davies against the Yankees and even though the veteran hurler is 1-0 in his previous two starts, he still possesses a lackluster 5.59 earned run average against the Bronx Bombers.

Last night, Robinson Cano went 2-for-4 with a three-run double in the first inning, as the New York Yankees roughed up the Kansas City Royals, 7-1, in the second installment of a four-game series. Brett Gardner added two hits and two RBI for the Yankees, who have won three in a row.

Rodriguez finished 2-for-4. While Rodriguez did not homer, there was a milestone, as Jorge Posada recorded the 1,000th RBI of his career.

A.J. Burnett (8-8) pitched five shutout innings before a lengthy rain delay forced both teams to change pitchers. Chad Gaudin allowed a run in three relief innings after the game resumed.

Royals starter Brian Bannister (7-9) gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings and took the loss, Kansas City's ninth in its last 11 games.

Bannister entered the game with a 15.07 ERA in four career starts against the Yankees, and continued to struggle in the first inning.

The Yankees will turn to Sergio Mitre, who will be activated from the disabled list to start in place of the injured Andy Pettitte.

Mitre landed on the DL back on June 5th when he strained his oblique, but before suffering the injury the right-hander pulled double duty for the Yankees, working as a reliever and a starter. However, his last start came way back on May 16th.

Mitre has tossed just 11 1/3 innings in front of a home crowd this season and in that time he has surrendered four runs on seven hits, while walking four batters and striking out five.

Against the Royals in his career the California native has made just two appearance, but neither went well and in seven total innings against KC, the veteran hurler has surrendered six runs on 13 hits.

Thursday's victory improved the Yankees to 16-4 against the Royals at home since the start of the 2006 season. New York has won 27 of the 36 meetings between the clubs over that time period.

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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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