Stammen strong, so are Nats' bats as Oswalt's Philly debut a dud

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Willingham and Roger Bernadina both stroked a two-run double to back a solid outing by Craig Stammen, as Washington cooled off the surging Phillies, 8-1, and, in doing so, spoiled Roy Oswalt's Philadelphia debut.

Stammen (3-4) gave up one run on five hits, walked one and struck out five over 6 1/3 innings to pick up his first win since June 29. He had given up a total of 11 runs in his two previous career starts against the Phillies, including a nightmarish outing in April, when he recorded just four outs.

Adam Kennedy collected four hits, scored twice and knocked in a run for the Nationals, who have won three of their last four games.

The story entering Friday's series opener was about the newly-acquired Oswalt (6-13) making his first start for the red-hot Phillies, winners of eight in a row. The right-hander allowed five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits and walked two in six innings to absorb his third straight loss.

Philadelphia is hoping Oswalt, who opted to waive his no-trade clause to leave the languishing Astros and join the Phillies on Thursday, can be just as successful as last year's trade deadline pickup, Cliff Lee, in helping the club reach the World Series again.

Oswalt's first pitch in a Phillies uniform resulted in a leadoff triple for Nyjer Morgan, who scored on a Kennedy groundout to give Washington an early lead.

Stammen singled off the glove of first baseman Ryan Howard to begin the third. Oswalt then hit Morgan before Kennedy dropped down a bunt. Philadelphia catcher Carlos Ruiz fielded the bunt and threw to third with the intention of getting Stammen. However, nobody was covering third, which allowed Stammen to score with ease. Morgan took third on the play and came home on a Ryan Zimmerman sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Willingham's two-out double increased the advantage to 5-0 in the fifth.

The Phillies finally got on the board when Jayson Werth homered to leadoff the seventh, but the Nationals countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning off reliever Chad Durbin.

Willingham walked to load the bases with one out for Bernadina, who doubled to the right-field corner and two batters later Ian Desmond's sac fly pushed the lead to 8-1.

Game Notes

Houston received pitcher J.A. Happ and minor league prospects Jonathan Villar and Anthony Gose for Oswalt...Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins returned to the starting lineup after missing the last three games with a bruised left foot...Werth has 15 home runs this season...The Nationals were 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.