Peavy tries to win fourth straight start in finale versus Angels
Baseball Betting Lines
05/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Chicago White Sox continue to be in a season- long funk, Jake Peavy appears as if he's put his early-year woes behind him.
The veteran pitcher will attempt to win a fourth consecutive start and help the White Sox salvage a split of a two-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim tonight at U.S. Cellular Field.
Peavy endured a rough month of April in which the 2007 National League Cy Young Award honoree went 0-2 with an uncharacteristic 7.85 earned run average and allowed six runs or more in three of five starts. May has been a different story for the right-hander, though, as he's gone 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA in three outings and posted an excellent 22-to-2 ratio of strikeouts to walks.
The 28-year-old has also worked seven innings or more in each of those tests and finished two outs shy of a complete game in last Saturday's victory at Kansas City. Peavy gave up four runs on seven hits and struck out five before exiting.
He was even sharper in a 7-3 besting of Toronto at U.S. Cellular Field on May 8, limiting the Blue Jays to two runs on just three hits while fanning eight without a walk.
The two-time All-Star, who's spent most of his career pitching in the NL with San Diego, has only faced the Angels once previously. That came while with the Padres on June 17, 2006, with Peavy taking a tough loss despite permitting just three runs on four hits in an eight-inning stint.
Peavy will be trying to enable his team to avenge a 3-2 defeat to the Angels in Wednesday's opener. Torii Hunter put Anaheim in front with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and starter Joe Saunders made the lead stand by twirling 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball as the Angels halted a two-game skid.
Saunders (3-5) yielded only one run and four hits in his second consecutive outstanding performance. The left-hander had fired a four-hit shutout to beat Oakland last Friday.
"He is pitching with confidence," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Saunders. "He's got a lot of life on his ball. He pitched a terrific game."
Brian Fuentes notched his fifth save of the season despite giving up a solo homer to Paul Konerko that brought Chicago within a run.
White Sox starter John Danks (3-3) pitched well in a losing cause, surrendering three runs -- two earned -- and striking out eight Angels in a 7 2/3-inning span.
"[Danks] made one mistake and it cost us the game," said catcher A.J. Pierzynski in reference to Hunter's homer. "We played hard, we battled. It just didn't work out."
The Angels turn to Ervin Santana, who'll be aiming for back-to-back wins for the first time this season, in hopes of gaining a sweep tonight. The hard- throwing righty halted a four-start winless skid with a solid six innings of work Saturday against Oakland, holding the Athletics to three runs -- two earned -- while striking out six batters in a 12-3 Angels verdict.
Santana had posted three no-decisions and a loss following his only other victory of 2010, a complete-game four-hitter in a 3-1 defeat of Toronto on April 18.
The 2008 AL All-Star is 2-1 in three lifetime starts at U.S. Cellular Field and owns a 3-2 mark with a 4.88 ERA over nine overall meetings (eight starts) with the White Sox.
The White Sox won five of nine meetings with the Angels in 2009 and took two of three games between the teams in Chicago from August 4-6.
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship
(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.
MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.
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