Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/17/2010 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reid Brignac notched his first career multi-homer game, blasting two and driving in a career-high five in the Rays' 10-5 win over the Yankees in the second of three games.
Brignac had just three career home runs in 101 contests before Saturday's outburst. Carlos Pena added a homer among a season-high four hits and drove in three, while Evan Longoria went 2-for-4 and scored three times, as Tampa Bay spoiled the 64th annual Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium.
Jeff Niemann (8-2) was the beneficiary of the run support after allowing four runs, six hits and four walks while fanning six in 6 1/3 frames. He moved to 5-0 in nine road starts this season, as the Rays won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada both homered, while Brett Gardner hit a two-run single for the Yankees, who had won nine of their previous 10.
A.J. Burnett (7-8) lasted just two-plus innings before leaving with lacerations on his throwing hand, and gave up four runs and four hits in defeat.
The Rays got to Burnett in the opening inning, as Longoria singled with two away and scored on Pena's double to right.
Tampa Bay mimicked that method of scoring in the second. After the first two batters were retired, Jason Bartlett kept the inning alive when he was hit by a pitch. Brignac subsequently launched a 1-0 pitch into the right-field seats for a 3-0 lead.
The Yankees answered with two runs in the home half. Robinson Cano led off with a double, and one-out walks to Curtis Granderson and Francisco Cervelli preceded Gardner's two-run single, which made it a one-run contest.
Burnett, though, didn't escape the third, when he hit Longoria with a pitch before uncorking a wild pitch and allowing Pena to smack an RBI single. The Yankees' starter was pulled with an injury, and Dustin Moseley was able to escape without further damage.
Moseley was not able to get through the fifth unscathed, however, as Tampa Bay tacked on four more runs.
Matt Joyce drew a leadoff walk, and John Jaso followed with a single, placing runners on the corners. B.J. Upton's sacrifice fly extended the lead to 5-2, and Bartlett singled Jaso to second. Brignac, again with a 1-0 count, launched another offering into the right-field seats for a six-run margin.
Teixeira's solo blast in the fifth pulled New York to within 8-3, but Jaso restored the six-run lead for Tampa Bay with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Posada added a homer for the Yanks in the home sixth, and Pena's leadoff blast in the eighth gave the visitors a 10-4 advantage.
Alex Rodriguez's RBI double in the ninth accounted for the final margin.
Game Notes
The Rays improved their MLB-best road record to 29-15...Tampa Bay leads the season series, 4-3...Moseley finished with three innings pitched, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks...Burnett fell to 12-6 lifetime against the Rays...Pena notched at least four hits for the fifth time in his career. He accomplished the feat for the first time since May 8, 2007...Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter went just 1-for-5 and is batting 7-for-41 (.171) since July 3.
<< Tournament host McCarron leads Reno-Tahoe Open
Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tournament host Scott McCarron posted a five-under
67 on Saturday to move atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Reno-
Tahoe Open.
McCarron finished 54 holes at 10-under 206 and is one stroke ahead at M
<< Reds shuffle roster to make room for Volquez
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds officially activated
right-hander Edinson Volquez to make his season debut against the Rockies
Saturday.
Volquez, who had been out because of both Tommy John surgery and a 50
<< Roughriders rally in fourth quarter to down Eskimos
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darian Durant threw for 238 yards and one
touchdown to lead the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 24-20 victory over the
Edmonton Eskimos at Mosaic Stadium.
Durant also added 49 yards on the ground for t
<< Life At Ten is tops in Del 'Cap
Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Odds-on favorite Life At Ten took the lead
shortly after the start and proceeded to dominate in winning Saturday's
$750,000 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park.
The victory in the 1 1/4-mile race
Columbus downs New York to extend lead in East >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emilio Renteria and Brian Carroll scored and
the Columbus Crew bounced back from a mid-week loss to beat Red Bull New York,
2-0, on Saturday night at Crew Stadium.
Renteria scored in the 20th minute and Carr
Chicago signs Mexican striker Castillo as DP >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Fire announced Saturday night they
have signed 26-year-old Mexican forward Nery Castillo as a Designated Player.
Chicago announced the signing after its 1-0 loss to the New England Revolution
in th
Johnson, Paulino lift Marlins in shutout of Nats >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ronny Paulino hit a two-run single in the bottom
of the second inning, and the Florida Marlins posted a 2-0 victory over
Washington in the second test of a three-game series at Sun Life Stadium.
Florida
Pavano tosses another complete game in Twins' win over ChiSox >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Pavano threw his fourth complete
game of the season, outpitching Mark Buehrle to lead the Minnesota Twins to a
3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Target Field.
Pavano (11-6), who had ne
Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.
Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.
Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.
If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.
Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.
By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.
In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.
So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.
While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.
In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:
SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.
XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.
Get free 2009 Super Bowl Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting VISA Mastercard
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.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting