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
04/24/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling teams begin a three-game series tonight at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum, where the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays will try to end their slump against an Athletics club that's lost four games in a row.
Tampa Bay won 97 times during the regular season in last year's turnaround campaign, but Joe Maddon's squad has yet to recapture the magic so far in 2009. The Rays have lost seven of their last nine games and currently stand at the bottom of the AL East with a 6-10 record.
The Rays have scored three runs or fewer in each of their last seven defeats, and their offensive struggles continued in yesterday's 1-0 loss at Seattle. Tampa Bay managed just four singles off Mariners starter Felix Hernandez and two relievers on the afternoon.
James Shields (2-2) did come through with a gem on the mound for the Rays, yielding one run and just four hits while walking one over 7 1/3 outstanding innings in a hard-luck loss. The right-hander's only run allowed came on a leadoff homer by Ichiro Suzuki in the bottom of the first.
Tampa hopes to break out in its first-ever encounter with A's rookie Trevor Cahill, who takes a fourth stab at attempting to earn his first major league victory. The 21-year-old has recorded a loss and two no-decisions through his initial three outings, but has allowed two earned runs or less in each of those starts.
Cahill worked around five walks in a 5 1/3-inning no-decision at Toronto last Saturday, holding the Blue Jays to just two runs. The highly-regarded right- hander was even better his previous time out, when he permitted only one run and two hits through seven frames of a 1-0 home loss to Seattle on April 12.
Oakland had a much-needed day off on Thursday after participating in a 14- inning marathon at Yankee Stadium the previous day. The A's came up on the short end of a 9-7 decision in that game, with New York's Melky Cabrera providing the winning margin with a two-run homer with one out in the final frame.
The Athletics tied the contest at 7-7 with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but managed just three hits against the Yankee bullpen the rest of the way. Matt Holliday finished 2-for-6 and delivered the tying single in the seventh, while Kurt Suzuki hit a three-run homer earlier on and also collected a pair of hits for Oakland.
Dan Giese (2-2) was dealt the loss after giving up Cabrera's blast in a 2 1/3- inning stint. Oakland starter Brett Anderson worked the first 5 1/3 innings and surrendered five runs on nine hits, three of which were home runs.
The rested A's will take their swings tonight off Scott Kazmir, who pitched the Rays to wins in each of his first two starts of 2009 but turned in a clunker his last time out.
Against the White Sox this past Saturday, Kazmir was reached for six runs and served up a pair of homers in just four innings of his team's 8-3 loss to Chicago. The hard-throwing lefty's control was off all game long, as he issued six walks and threw just 54-of-92 pitches for strikes.
Kazmir did not walk a single batter in his previous start, a 15-5 home rout of the Yankees on April 13 in which he tossed 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball.
The 25-year-old Texan has had very good success when facing Oakland in the past, having amassed a 6-2 record with a 2.70 ERA over 11 career starts against the Athletics. Kazmir allowed only three runs in 19 innings over three starts versus Oakland in 2008, posting a 2-1 mark in those games.
Tampa Bay went 6-3 against the A's a year ago and won four of the six meetings held at the Coliseum.
<< Red Sox, Yankees begin latest edition of rivalry
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox take aim at their seventh straight
victory this evening when they resume baseball's fiercest rivalry with the
first of 18 games this season against the hated New York Yankees at Fenway
Park.
After a slo
<< Blazers, Rockets meet in pivotal Game 3
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets accomplished what they needed to in
Portland and now their Western Conference quarterfinals series shifts to south
Texas for a pivotal Game 3 tonight.
After opening the best-of-seven set with a rout in
<< Cavs shoot for commanding 3-0 series lead over Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals is
slowly being lost in the rear-view mirror by this group of Detroit Pistons.
The new bullies on the block in the East, LeBron James and the Cleveland
Cavaliers, hope to
<< Tottenham's Redknapp interested in Beckham
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp has
admitted an interest in bringing David Beckham back to the Premier League.
Beckham, 33, will divide his time between a loan spell at AC Milan and MLS club
Los An
Surging Pirates sail into San Diego >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will try to stretch their winning
streak to four games tonight in the opener of a three-game series out west
versus the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
The Pirates are coming off a three-game
First-place Mariners visit Angels >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a brutal start to the 2009 season, the Los Angeles
Angels of Anaheim are showing signs of turning things around. The defending
American League West champions will get a test of how far they've come when
the resurgent Se
Giants send Lincecum to hill in Arizona >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco's Tim Lincecum turned in his best performance
of the season versus Arizona last weekend, but was outdueled by Doug Davis.
Those two hurlers will square off again tonight, as the Giants and
Diamond
Rangers try to complete upset of Caps in D.C. >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers will try to complete a first-round
upset when they visit the second-seeded Washington Capitals at Verizon Center
for Game 5 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The seventh-seeded Ran
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing 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