Cardinals try to even up Giants in series finale
Baseball Betting Lines
07/02/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Zito tries to slow down Albert Pujols this evening when the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals conclude a four-game set at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis won in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, as Colby Rasmus belted a home run in the 10th inning to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 victory. San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval had dropped a pop fly foul ball previously in the at-bat before Rasmus won the game with his eighth home run of the season.
"There was no excuse," Sandoval said. "I have to catch that ball, 100 percent."
Pujols, who was in the on-deck circle at the time of Rasmus' game-winning blast, had two hits and was on base four times. He leads the majors with 30 homers and 77 RBI and is hitting an incredible .632 (12-for-19) in six games against the Giants this season.
The home run made a loser of Bob Howry (0-4) and a winner of Ryan Franklin (2-0), who pitched one flawless frame for St. Louis.
"We needed a win," manager Tony La Russa said. "When you haven't been winning, boy, it's hard to win games. And then when you're winning, it's hard to lose. It was really a struggle. Probably for one game that could be some of the worst at-bats that we've had. Guys are pressing so much. We just have to find a way to relax."
Rasmus' walk-off homer was the first by a Cardinals rookie since Andy Van Slyke ended a game on August 18, 1983 against Houston.
Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn each had two hits for San Francisco and Bengie Molina drove in the only Giants run. Starter Matt Cain didn't factor in the decision, but allowed just one run on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts over seven frames.
Zito gets the call tonight for the Giants as he tries to improve upon a 4-7 season ledger with a 4.55 ERA. Zito has won three of his last four decisions, but did not get one on Saturday in Milwaukee despite a decent effort. He surrendered three runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings of his team's 7-6 loss that night.
The 31-year-old left-hander lost to the Cards back on May 30 and is 0-3 with a 4.57 ERA lifetime against them.
St. Louis will counter with righty Todd Wellemeyer, who is 6-7 with a 5.68 ERA. He did not get a decision on Saturday against Minnesota, but did not make it out of the third inning after allowing three runs and four hits in just 2 1/3 frames.
Wellemeyer has faced the Giants three times and is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA.
The Giants won two of three games from the Cardinals at AT&T Park back in May and have taken six of the past eight meetings in this series.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds hope that Aaron Harang can have the same type of outing Johnny Cueto had last night, as they wrap up a three-game series Thursday afternoon from Great American Ball Park. Cueto tossed six shutout inning
<< Yankees hope A-Rod stays hot in finale vs. Seattle
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez is starting to heat up. Not coincidentally,
so are the New York Yankees.
The Bronx Bombers will be shooting for an eighth consecutive victory and a
series sweep of Rodriguez's original team, the Seattl
<< Braves hope to break out the brooms against Phils
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves are gradually working their way up the
NL East standings and will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high
four straight games tonight in the finale of a three-game series versus the
Philadelphia
<< Cubs, Brewers to begin key NL Central series
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Chicago Cubs are going to win a third straight
National League Central title, they are going to have to pick it up
offensively. This weekend would be a good time to get it going, as they return
home for the start of a
<< Astros go for series win at Petco
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros shoot for a series win this afternoon
over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, where the two ballclubs will wrap up
a four-game set.
Houston has won five of its last seven games, including two of the fir
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox will be putting a season-high win streak on the line when the resurgent club heads to Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium tonight for the opener of a four-game series with the Royals. Chicago comes
Angels return home to host Orioles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels return home from a six-day road
trip in first place in the American League West. The two-time defending
division champions will try to stay on top when they start up a four-game
series
Thrashers re-sign Thorburn >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers have re-signed forward
Chris Thorburn to a multi-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Thorburn appeared in all 82 games for the Thrashers last season and r
Some rebuild, USC reloads >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Within the world of college basketball,
there is a general consensus that the North Carolina Tar Heels have a huge
recruiting advantage that helps bring a never ending supply of blue-chippers
to Chapel Hill.
Creamer withdraws from title defense >>
Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer withdrew from her title defense
at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic before teeing off Thursday.
Creamer injured her left thumb last week and had received treatment on the
injury since wi
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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