Pujols slugs 400th HR, but Cards fall to Nats in 13th

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08/27/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Albert Pujols became the fastest player in number of seasons to hit 400 home runs, but Ian Desmond's single in the bottom of the 13th inning lifted Washington over St. Louis, 11-10, in the opener of a four-game set from Nationals Park.

Desmond finished with four hits and three RBI for the Nationals, who put the brakes on a four-game skid. Roger Bernadina slugged a game-tying two-run blast in the ninth.

Doug Slaten (4-1) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief.

Randy Winn finished 4-for-6 with three RBI, Skip Schumaker also drove in three runs, while Pujols collected two hits and walked three times for the Cardinals, who have lost three in a row and fell four games behind idle Cincinnati in the NL Central.

Blake Hawksworth (4-8) was charged with two hits and the winning run while recording just one out in the 13th.

The Cards' final hurler began the deciding frame by hitting Nyjer Morgan with a pitch before fanning Ryan Zimmerman. Alberto Gonzalez singled to move Morgan to third, and Morgan scored when Desmond drilled a hit off Schumaker's glove with a drawn-in infield.

Schumaker's RBI single in the first got St. Louis on the board before Washington tallied three times in the third on Zimmerman's RBI hit and a two- run single from Desmond.

Pujols began the fourth inning against Nats starter Jordan Zimmermann with a long blast to right for the milestone homer that cut the visitors' deficit to 3-2. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases, before Schumaker's base hit plated two. Pedro Feliz added another single and two batters later a Felipe Lopez groundout scored Yadier Molina for a 5-3 game.

The Nats drew within one in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Adam Dunn, then moved ahead in the sixth on a pair of sac flys from pinch-hitter Mike Morse and Adam Kennedy.

Washington then took an 8-5 edge in the seventh as Zimmerman walked, Desmond singled and Ivan Rodriguez walked ahead of Willie Harris' two-run single.

Pujols doubled with one out in the eighth and scored on Winn's two-out RBI single for an 8-6 contest.

Feliz opened the ninth with a single, Aaron Miles followed with a base hit and Brendan Ryan cut the Cards' deficit to 8-7 with a double to left. Jon Jay fanned and Pujols was given a free pass before Matt Holliday was hit on the left wrist to force in the tying run.

Sean Burnett came on only to give up the go-ahead, two-run hit to Winn to make it 10-8 before Molina hit into an inning-ending double play.

Gonzalez began the home half against Ryan Franklin with a single and scored on Bernadina's one-out, two-run shot that landed just over the scoreboard in right.

Game Notes

Pujols, in his 10th major-league season, snapped the previous mark of 11 years to reach the 400-homer plateau last set by Alex Rodriguez in 2005...In addition, the Dominican slugger, at 30 years, 222 days old, became the third- youngest to reach the plateau, after Rodriguez at 29 years, 316 days and Ken Griffey, Jr. at 30 years, 150 days...Holliday left the game with a bruised left hand...Prior to the contest, the Nats officially introduced top-overall pick, 17-year-old outfielder Bryce Harper, who thrilled a crowd in pre-game batting practice by reaching the third deck in right field...Zimmermann, who made his season debut after recovering from Tommy John surgery, allowed seven hits and five runs with four strikeouts in four innings...The Nats optioned pitcher Collin Balester to Triple-A Syracuse late Wednesday to make room for Zimmermann...Cards starter Chris Carpenter yielded 10 hits and six runs -- three earned -- over six full frames.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

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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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