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07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have had a rough go of it lately on the road. A trip to Pittsburgh, though, could be just what they need, as the Padres open a three-game series against the Pirates tonight at PNC Park.
The Padres, who are 25-20 away from home this season, enter tonight's affair having dropped two of three in Atlanta and are 3-6 in the last nine games away from home. However, San Diego has traditionally thrived in the Steel City, where it hasn't lost a series since 2001.
San Diego's lead atop the National League West stands at three games over the San Francisco Giants, despite the series loss in Atlanta that culminated with an 8-0 setback on Thursday.
Clayton Richard (7-5) was tagged for nine hits and four runs (three earned) in six innings for the Padres, who were coming off Wednesday's come-from-behind 6-4 triumph in 12 innings.
"Definitely the first few innings I threw a lot more balls than I wanted to," said Richard. "When you're pounding the strike zone, good things usually happen. When you don't it's usually the opposite. That was the case the first three innings today."
Tonight the Padres turn to righty Kevin Correia, who is 6-6 with a 5.22 ERA. Correia beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, holding them to three runs and seven hits in six innings. The victory was his first in eight starts, but the Padres are 7-3 in his last 10 outings.
Correia has faced the Pirates six times (three starts) and is 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, was denied a series sweep against Milwaukee, falling 3-2 in Thursday's finale.
Ross Ohlendorf (1-8) was the hard-luck loser, allowing one run on five hits and a walk to go with six strikeouts for Pittsburgh, which lost for only the second time in its last six tries. Neil Walker went 2-for-3 and drove in both Pirates runs in the loss.
"You give up one run in six innings you can feel pretty good about it, especially against a pretty good offensive club," Pirates manager John Russell said of Ohlendorf's outing.
Pittsburgh had outscored Milwaukee 26-12 in the first two games of the set.
A big reason for that offensive outburst by the Pirates was the play of rookie third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who is hitting .417 (10-for-24) with four home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored in six games since the All-Star break.
Alvarez homered four times in the first two games against the Brewers, as he became just the second player in the majors this season to homer twice in consecutive games.
Hoping for that kind of support tonight will be left-hander Paul Maholm, who didn't need any runs the last time he pitched. Maholm tossed a three-hit shutout to beat the Houston Astros on Sunday to run his record to 6-7 on the year, while lowering his ERA to 4.03.
Maholm, though, is 0-2 in three starts against the Padres with a 3.05 ERA.
San Diego is 8-3 in its last 11 trips to Pittsburgh.
<< Roughriders add K/P Johnson
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Saskatchewan Roughriders have added
kicker/punter Eddie Johnson to the roster.
Johnson appeared in two games for Toronto last season and averaged 46.4 yards
on 16 punts.
The 29-year-old Idaho
<< Chris Paul's "Big Three" Fantasy May Be Just That
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul is looking to follow in the
footsteps of his good friend LeBron James and form his own trio of star players
in the hopes of winning an NBA championship. The Hornets' talented point guard
reportedly has
<< Iowa St DB Sims investigated in credit card case
AMES, Iowa (AP) -Authorities say Iowa State defensive back David Sims is being investigated in connection with a stolen credit card, though no charges have been filed.Ames police commander Mike Brennan says a Des Moines woman reported July 17 that h
<< Armed men rob home of Bobcats' Stephen Jackson
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Police are investigating a home invasion and armed robbery at the home of Charlotte Bobcats player Stephen Jackson.Multiple media organizations reported Friday that three masked gunmen entered Jackson's home in a gated communit
Duensing set for first start of season as Twins battle Orioles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- Brian Duensing will have a tough act to follow when the
Minnesota Twins pitcher makes his first start of the season in tonight's clash
with the Baltimore Orioles from Camden Yards.
Minnesota took the opener of this four-g
Santana hopes for a little run support in LA >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoring runs is vital to winning baseball games. The New
York Mets must have missed that memo.
The suddenly-dismal club will try to cross the plate a few times tonight in
the second portion of a four-game series against th
Nationals seek third straight win in opener with Brewers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals hope to build off a very
encouraging showing in their most recent series when the club travels to
Miller Park tonight to start up a three-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Washington enters this
Cabrera-led Tigers continue series with Blue Jays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miguel Cabrera's primary goal is to help the Detroit Tigers
capture an American League Central title. Still, one would think the
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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
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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