Big Unit defeats Carpenter, Giants top Cards
Baseball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edgar Renteria went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Randy Johnson won the battle of former Cy Young Award winners, as the Giants pulled out a 6-3 victory over Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals in the second test of a four-game set.
Johnson (8-5) gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to win for the fifth time in his last six decisions. Bengie Molina had two hits and two RBI, and Pablo Sandoval finished 2-for-4 with a run knocked in and two runs scored for San Francisco, which has won five of seven.
Carpenter (5-3), previously 3-0 at home this year, was roughed up for six runs on 11 hits in just five frames for St. Louis, which has dropped six of seven.
As has been the case for much of the season, Albert Pujols provided the Cardinals' offense with two homers and three RBI, finishing the month of June with an eye-popping 14 home runs and 35 RBI.
The Giants got to Carpenter early on with three consecutive one-out singles in the first, the latter from Bengie Molina plating Randy Winn. Nate Schierholtz struck out with runners on the corners, and Renteria singled to left to bring in Sandoval for a quick 2-0 lead.
Sandoval was thrown out at home on a weak grounder to first by Schierholtz in the third, and Pujols hammered a one-out blast that flew by Big Mac Land to make it a 2-1 game in the fourth.
San Fran answered with four runs of its own in the fifth. Aaron Rowand singled, moved to third on Winn's double and scored on a Sandoval base hit to right. Bengie Molina followed with a sacrifice fly, and Schierholtz grounded out before run-scoring hits from Renteria and Travis Ishikawa.
Pujols continued to keep the hosts close by following Chris Duncan's pinch-hit walk in the sixth with his 30th home run of the year, the seventh time the reigning NL MVP has gone deep twice in the same game this season.
Johnson was pulled later in the inning after giving up a one-out triple to Ryan Ludwick and walk to Yadier Molina. Jeremy Affeldt entered and walked Rick Ankiel, though the reliever induced an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Tyler Greene to stem the threat.
Brian Wilson entered in the eighth with two on and two out and got pinch- hitter Skip Schumaker to ground out. In the ninth, the Giants closer worked around a one-out single by Colby Rasmus for his 21st save of the year.
Game Notes
Both teams entered the game with 41 wins...Despite Pujols' prowess during the month, St. Louis finished June with a 12-17 record....Lifetime against the Cardinals, Johnson is 7-7 in 15 starts... Carpenter was 3-0 in five lifetime starts against San Francisco coming in...The Giants have taken six of the past seven meetings in this series...St. Louis was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregor Blanco scored the winning run in the 10th inning as part of a three-hit night, and Martin Prado drove him in as part of a four-RBI evening, as Atlanta used the big bats from two unlikely sources
<< Haren pitches, hits D-Backs past Reds
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ball and added a double and solo home run at the plate to help snap the
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Haren (7-
<< Pirates blank Cubs, complete rare winning mark in June
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddy Sanchez doubled and knocked in two
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<< Flames sign Bouwmeester to multi-year contract
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Over the wee
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Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet
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campaign.
Boozer announced he will exercise his player option and remain with the
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets threw the baseball all around the diamond during Milwaukee's four-run fourth frame, and the Brewers beat Johan Santana in a 6-3 victory at Miller Park. Ryan Braun was right in the m
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Marlins time comeback over Nationals perfectly >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer and knocked in
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Cabrera's hit lifts Yankees over Mariners >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera drove in three runs, including the
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Mariano Rivera threw the ceremonial fir
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at Rang
Online Sportsbook Football Betting
LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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