Konerko and Garcia lead White Sox to sweep of Nats

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06/20/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Konerko drove in three runs and scored a run, as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Washington Nationals, 6-3, to complete a three-game series sweep at Nationals Park.

Alex Rios went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI for the White Sox, who finished a nine-game road trip with an impressive 8-1 mark.

Freddy Garcia (8-3) went seven innings in the start, allowing three runs on six hits to pick up his fifth straight win for Chicago, which has won its last six contests. He also fanned six batters and walked one. J.J. Putz recorded his first save of the season.

Adam Dunn, Roger Bernadina, and Wil Nieves each knocked in a run for the Nationals, who have dropped six in a row.

John Lannan (2-5) got rocked in four-plus innings, giving up five runs on 11 hits to take the loss. The left-hander hasn't tasted victory since May 28 against the Padres.

Down 3-1, Chicago scored four times in the fifth to take the lead. Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez hit consecutive singles to put men on the corners for Rios, who laced an RBI double to center. Konerko followed with a two-run single. Miguel Batista relieved Lannan and gave up base hits to Carlos Quentin and Ramon Castro to load the bases with nobody out. Dayan Viciedo then grounded into a double play, but a run scored on the play to make it 5-3. Gordon Beckham grounded out to end the inning.

Washington stranded a runner on third in the sixth, before the White Sox got an RBI single from Rios in the ninth to make it a 6-3 game.

Matt Thornton tossed a scoreless eighth and Putz worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to secure the victory.

The White Sox got on the board in the first inning. Rios hit a two-out single, stole second, and crossed the plate on Konerko's base hit up the middle.

Washington plated three runs in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. Cristian Guzman led off with a triple into the gap in right-center field. Dunn followed with a grounder to first baseman Konerko, who threw home in an attempt to get Guzman out. However, Guzman just beat the throw to score the Nationals' first run of the game. Bernadina and Nieves each added RBI singles later in the frame.

Game Notes

The White Sox swept a series in Washington for the first time since April 29- May 2, 1971 (four-game series)...Chicago has gone eight straight games without hitting a home run, its longest stretch since April 17-25, 1993 (eight games)...Viciedo started at third base and made his MLB debut for the White Sox on Sunday. He went 1-for-4. Viciedo (21 years, 102 days) is the third- youngest Sox player to make his debut since 2000 behind Jon Garland (20 years, 281 days) and Pedro Lopez (21 years, three days).

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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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