White Sox shoot for sweep of Indians; Manny expected to start
Baseball Betting Lines
09/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The closest White Sox newcomer Manny Ramirez came to the field last night in Cleveland was the on-deck circle. Ramirez is expected to be the designated hitter in today's finale of a three-game series against the Indians at Progressive Field.
Ramirez, officially acquired in a waiver claim from the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this week, may have gotten into the heads of the Indians when he stepped onto the field during an A.J. Pierzynski at-bat in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 4-3 win. The Chicago catcher, however, belted the go-ahead three-run homer before Ramirez could take his first swing in a White Sox uniform.
In 51 career games against the Indians, Ramirez is a .352 hitter with 46 RBI and 16 home runs. He made his major league debut with Cleveland in 1993.
Mark Teahen drove in a run Tuesday for the playoff-hopeful White Sox, who are four games behind Minnesota for the AL Central lead.
Pale Hose starter Edwin Jackson continued to succeed with Chicago, throwing his third consecutive 10-plus strikeout performance in 8 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with 11 K's last night.
"Edwin Jackson really is the story," a modest Pierzynski said. "We wanted him to finish the game, we really needed that for our bullpen, which has been kind of abused (lately). He was amazing."
The White Sox, who will also visit Boston and Detroit on their 10-game road trip, are expected to send veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia to the mound this afternoon. Garcia is 11-5 in 24 starts to go along with a respectable 4.89 ERA and defeated the New York Yankees his last time out on Friday, holding the Bronx Bombers to a pair of runs -- one earned -- in seven innings of a 9-4 drubbing.
Garcia is 5-2 in 12 road starts this season and 6-6 with a 4.13 ERA in 19 lifetime matchups (18 starts) against the Tribe.
Cleveland will wrap up a nine-game homestand Wednesday and has lost three in a row. Starter Justin Masterson had a strong outing go to waste in Tuesday's setback, as he allowed just one run and four hits in 7 2/3 innings.
"You feel good that you helped give the team a chance, but it's never exciting to come away with the defeat," Masterson said. "But we fought hard."
Joe Smith gave up two runs to suffer the loss for the Indians, who got a home run from Shelley Duncan and two RBI out of Jason Donald. The Indians are 3-5 on the residency and have lost eight of their last 11 contests overall.
Carlos Carrasco is slated to make his 2010 debut tonight for Cleveland and went 0-4 with an 8.87 ERA in five starts last year. Carrasco, who was 10-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 25 starts at Triple-A Columbus, has never faced Chicago.
The right-hander was acquired from Philadelphia last year as part of the Cliff Lee deal.
Cleveland is 8-6 against the AL Central-rival White Sox this season.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals are playing themselves out of postseason contention, but at least they'll be able to conclude a horrendous road trip today in the finale of a three-game series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid
<< Five-a-Side: Liberty coach Danny Rocco
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Rocco has yet to picket outside NCAA
headquarters in Indianapolis, but if the third Sunday in November goes like
the last three years, don't doubt that he and the rest of the Liberty football
team will
<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 1st
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
Group C: China vs. Russia, 9 a.m. (Ankara)
Group A: Serbia vs. Australia, 9:30 a.m. (Kayseri)
Group B: Croatia vs. Tunisia, 9:30 a.m. (Istanbul)
Group C: Ivory Coast vs. Greece, 11:30 a.m. (Ankara)
Group D: Leban
<< Tickets go on sale for NBA games in London
LONDON (AP) -Tickets have gone on sale for the first regular-season NBA games in Europe.The New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors will play a pair of games at the O2 Arena in London on March 4-5. The NBA is planning a week of activities across Britain
<< Long-time Stamps physician Murphy passes away
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Calgary Stampeders physician Dr. Vince Murphy
has passed away at the age of 87, the team announced Tuesday.
Dr. Murphy was associated with the Stampeders since 1957. A release from the
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Normal, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA ruled that Alabama A&M's top returning tackler Afu Okosun must sit out the season's first two games because he played in one game in 2006 before he was redshirted that season. Alabama A&M coach
Iowa C Koeppel to miss opener after crash >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa senior center Josh Koeppel will miss
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in a crash on his moped.
The Daily Iowan reported that Koeppel was hit head-on by
New FCS head coaches ready for debuts >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventeen of the 19 new head coaches at
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Dale Carlson wi
Twins' Liriano puts unbeaten streak on line vs. Tigers >>
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The Pirates have already wo
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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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