Giants' Torres caps big game with winning hit in 10th

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07/28/2010 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andres Torres capped his four-hit day with a deep bases-loaded single in the 10th inning, lifting the Giants to a 10-9 win over the Florida Marlins at AT&T Park.

Torres added a two-run homer and Juan Uribe had three hits and drove in four runs for San Francisco, which is putting pressure on NL West-leading San Diego by winning six of its last seven games. Buster Posey extended his hitting streak to 21 games for the Giants, who won despite blowing a 9-2 lead after six innings.

Dan Uggla homered for the sixth time in as many games and tied the contest with an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning. He has 143 homers for his career, tying the Marlins team record set by Mike Lowell. Pinch-hitter Donnie Murphy added a three-run homer and Ronny Paulino clubbed a solo shot for the Marlins.

Hanley Ramirez singled and Logan Morrison doubled with one out in the ninth inning. A groundout by Gaby Sanchez scored Ramirez with two outs. Uggla, facing a 3-2 count against closer Brian Wilson, slugged a ground-rule double to the gap in left-center field. Pinch-hitter Wes Helms struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Giants had a rally thwarted in the bottom of the ninth after putting two men on base, but capitalized in the 10th against Clay Hensley (1-4). Aaron Rowand singled to left field and Edgar Renteria followed by hitting a ball that bounced off the chest of third baseman Murphy. Nate Schierholtz singled sharply to right field and Torres followed by taking the first pitch deep to left-center field to end the game.

Jonathan Sanchez was charged with seven hits and five runs over six-plus innings, but fanned seven batters in the start for the Giants. Chris Ray (2-0) picked up the victory by retiring the side in order in the top of the 10th.

Florida's Alex Sanabia was shelled for nine hits and seven runs over two-plus innings.

The Giants totaled six hits in the first inning, including RBI singles from Aubrey Huff and Rowand, and a two-run base hit from Uribe.

Morrison doubled in Ramirez in the third, but the Giants got a two-run triple from Uribe in the bottom of the frame, and he then scored on a Jorge Sosa wild pitch.

Paulino homered in the fourth, but Torres went deep in the sixth to provide the 9-2 margin.

Murphy homered off Sanchez in the seventh, and Uggla went deep against Denny Bautista later in the inning to get the visitors within 9-7.

Game Notes

The Giants have won 18 games so far this month and with two more victories, they'll have their first 20-win month since September 2000...Posey's streak is the second-longest by a rookie in San Francisco-era history behind Hall of Famer Willie McCovey's 22-gamer in 1959. Benito Santiago holds the major league rookie record for hitting safely in 34 straight games in 1987. The longest consecutive game hitting streak in San Francisco era history (since 1958) is held by Jack Clark, who hit safely in 26 games in 1978...San Francisco swept a three-game set from the Marlins earlier in the year and has won seven of the last nine meetings in the series.

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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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