Braves try to stay hot in opener vs. Nats
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves try to push their season-high winning streak to five games this evening when they open a three-game series with the lowly Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.
Although it still sits in fourth place, Atlanta got itself right back in the thick of the NL East race this past week, as it swept a three-game set from the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies, culminating with a 5-2 win in Thursday's finale.
"Any time you play in the division you want to play well," said Matt Diaz. "We're right there in the middle of it. Somehow, some way, we are. It was fun. The last three nights have been fun.
Diaz finished 3-for-4 and belted a go-ahead RBI double in a three-run eighth, while Garret Anderson added a two-run homer in the same frame to help the Braves pull within two games of the division-leading Phillies and Florida Marlins.
They are also a game back of the New York Mets.
"Without question everyone's got a shot," Diaz added when asked about the division's future prospects. "The Mets are going to get healthy; the Marlins are as good as they were in the beginning of the year when they might be the favorites; and the Phillies are the defending world champs, and when (Raul) Ibanez gets healthy, their offense is completely different. Everyone has a shot, except for Washington."
Mike Gonzalez (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth to earn the win, and Rafael Soriano earned his seventh save of the season.
Tonight, the Braves turn to Japanese import Kenshin Kawakami, who has not pitched since June 24, when he was forced to leave after three perfect innings when he was hit in the neck by a line drive off the bat of New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain.
Kawakami, who has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his last 10 starts, is 4-6 this season with a 4.25 ERA. He has also faced the Nats twice this season, going 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in those contests.
Washington, meanwhile, is the lone team in the NL East not competing for the top spot. At 22-54, the Nationals not only have the worst record in baseball, but they sit 17 games back of the front-running Marlins and Phillies.
Manny Acta's crew did not help their cause any this past week, as they were swept in a three-game set by the Marlins and have dropped eight of their last 10 contests.
Hoping to reverse that trend tonight will be rookie Ross Detwiler, who at 0-4 is still searching for his first big league win. Detwiler was charged with the loss last Friday in Baltimore, as the Orioles hit him for five runs and nine hits in five innings, bumping his ERA to 5.24.
Detwiler, who has received one run of support in five of his eight outings, will be making his first ever start against the Braves.
Atlanta has won four of its six matchups with the Nats this season after Washington took 12 of the 18 meetings a year ago.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez will try to stretch his franchise-record RBI streak to 11 games this evening when the Florida Marlins begin a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Land Shark Stadium. Florida, meanwhile, has
<< Yankees, Blue Jays open key series with weekday matinee
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees will try to start a new winning streak
this afternoon, when they play the first of four straight games versus the
American League East-rival Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx.
New York had a seven-game wi
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Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricky Ray went 29-for-41 passing for 318 yards
and a touchdown, as the Edmonton Eskimos edged the Winnipeg Blue Bombers,
19-17, in the teams' season-opener.
Edmonton took the win after Winnipeg kicker
<< Abreu homers twice in Angels' win over O's
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu hit a pair of homers, accounting
for four runs batted in, and John Lackey threw eight strong innings, as the
Angels beat Baltimore, 5-2, in the opener of a four-game series.
Chone Figgins had
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Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Branyan belted a two-run homer and the
Mariners pounded CC Sabathia early on the way to an 8-4 win, ending New
York's winning streak at seven contests.
Franklin Gutierrez had three hits, inclu
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Zambrano takes aim at his first win in five starts this afternoon when the Chicago Cubs continue their four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Zambrano was roughed up by the Chicago White S
Serena and Venus reach fourth Wimbledon doubles final >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The incomparable Williams sisters,
Serena and Venus, will appear in their fourth Wimbledon doubles final on
Saturday.
The fourth-seeded sisters drilled a top-seeded tandem of Zimbabwe's Cara
Road-weary Phils return home to host Mets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies limp back home tied atop the NL
East after a dreadful road trip. Tonight, they try to improve upon their
horrific play in front of their own fans when they open a three-game series
against
King Felix goes for Mariners at Fenway >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners enter the final leg of a challenging
road trip with tonight's opener of a three-game series with the American
League East-leading Boston Red Sox from Fenway Park.
The surprising Mariners have acquitte
Cardinals send Pineiro to hill in Cincinnati >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro hopes for some run support tonight when the
St. Louis Cardinals begin a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds at Great
American Ball Park.
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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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