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Giants hope to secure series win over CubsBaseball Betting Lines08/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants try for a series victory over the Chicago Cubs this afternoon in the finale of a four-game series at AT&T Park. The NL Wild Card-leading Giants have won two of the first three installments of this set and are coming off last night's 5-4 win. Pat Burrell homered and finished with three RBI, while Aaron Rowand also went deep for the Giants, who remained 2 1/2 games behind San Diego for the NL West lead. "He plays with a lot of intensity, he's been through it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Burrell, who's batting .293 with eight homers for San Francisco. "He's had a lot of fun with this, being in the National League and being in the race." Shortstop Edgar Renteria was placed on the disabled list for the third time this season due to a strained left biceps. Juan Uribe took over at shortstop and went 1-for-4 last night. San Francisco, which is a game ahead of both Philadelphia and Cincinnati for the final playoff spot in the National League, got a subpar outing from veteran Barry Zito on Wednesday. Zito threw 6 1/3 innings and permitted four runs and 10 hits in the no-decision. Sergio Romo tossed 1 2/3 innings of relief for the win and Brian Wilson registered his 33rd save with two K's in the ninth. Matt Cain gets the nod for Bochy's club tonight and he's 9-9 with a 3.06 earned run average in 23 starts. Cain was 3-0 in four starts before losing his most recent outing on Saturday at Atlanta, as he gave up three runs in five innings of a 3-0 loss. The big righty, who is 6-3 in 11 home starts, will make his ninth career start against the Cubs this afternoon. Cain is 5-2 over the first eight appearances, all of which have been starts. Chicago has dropped five of six games and got homers from Tyler Colvin and Marlon Byrd in Wednesday's loss. Tom Gorzelanny did not record a decision and pitched six innings of four-run ball. Justin Berg was dealt the loss for surrendering Burrell's leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth. "The guys battled, I can't fault that," Cubs acting manager Alan Trammell said. "We're somewhat shorthanded again, limited here and there. It seems that's too much of the story." The Cubs may not have third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the lineup Thursday because of sore ribs, while first baseman Derrek Lee is on the bereavement list to be with his ailing grandfather. Chicago hopes starter Randy Wells can stop his personal three-game losing streak when he takes the ball Thursday. Wells was decent in Saturday's 4-3 loss versus Cincinnati, but suffered the loss for allowing three runs on five hits and two walks in seven innings. Wells is 5-10 in 23 overall starts and 2-5 through 11 trips to the visiting mound this season. The right-hander lost his only start to San Francisco on September 27 last season in a 5-1 loss. He tossed 5 1/3 innings and was reached for five runs and 10 hits. Chicago and San Francisco are meeting for the first time since the Cubs took four of six matchups a year ago, including three of four at AT&T Park. The Cubs have won 14 of the last 23 encounters with the Giants.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have never swept a season series from the Pittsburgh Pirates and will try to make history tonight in the finale of a three-game series at Petco Park. San Diego has won eight in a row overall in this se
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While Colorado is hoping to make a late charge for a postseason spot, things just keep getting worse for New York, especially closer Francisco Rodriguez. The Rockies, looking to win in Queens for just the fifth time in 27
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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." 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. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card needs. |
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