Yankees hope A-Rod stays hot in finale vs. Seattle
Baseball Betting Lines
07/02/2009 - (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 Seattle Mariners, when the two clubs wrap up a three-game set tonight at Yankee Stadium.
New York kept up its winning ways with Wednesday's 4-2 triumph over the Mariners, in which Rodriguez snapped a 2-2 deadlock with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The homer was the fourth in six contests for the superstar third baseman, and he's batting .435 (10-for-23) with 13 RBI during a seven-game hitting streak. The surge has raised Rodriguez's season average from .207 to .239.
"Even when I struggled I never felt like it was an at-bat where I wasn't going to get the job done," said Rodriguez, who sat out the season's first five weeks while recovering from hip surgery. "That hasn't changed. My question has always been 'is my body going to bounce back.' It was never about my game. My body feels good. The results are better."
Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera also homered to help the Yankees to their 10th straight home win over the Mariners, while Andy Pettitte delivered seven sharp innings on the mound.
Pettitte (8-3) held Seattle to two runs on six hits while walking just one batter to notch his team-best eighth victory of the year.
The red-hot Yankees now own a 2 1/2-game lead on Tampa Bay for the top spot in the American League Wild Card standings and trail first-place Boston by the same margin in the AL East race.
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 621st career home run for Seattle, which came into this series having won four times in a five-game span. Starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn (4-6) was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits over seven innings of work.
CC Sabathia will attempt to match Pettitte's season win total when he takes the mound for New York tonight. The offseason acquisition rebounded strongly from an injury-shortened start at Florida on June 21 this past Friday, when he limited the rival Mets to just one run and three hits while racking up eight strikeouts over seven innings in the Yankees' 9-1 Subway Series win.
Sabathia had left the Florida game after just 1 1/3 innings after experiencing tightness in his left biceps, but threw 99 pitches against the Mets without any problems.
The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner is 2-1 with a respectable 3.99 earned run average in seven starts at hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium this year, and owns a 4-3 mark with a 2.95 ERA in 11 lifetime starts against the Mariners.
Seattle will hand the ball to Jason Vargas in the finale and hope the left- hander can work out his recent troubles. After going 2-0 with an excellent 1.93 ERA over his first seven appearances in a Mariners uniform, Vargas is 1-3 in his last four starts and has surrendered 17 runs (16 earned) in 22 innings during that span.
Each of Vargas' last three losses have come on the road, the most recent being an 8-2 setback to the Dodgers on Friday. The 26-year-old was tagged for five runs on nine hits -- including a pair of homers -- before exiting after just 4 2/3 innings.
This will be Vargas' first-ever appearance against the Yankees.
New York has dominated this series as of late, having won 11 of its past 13 encounters with the Mariners. The Yankees are 10-0 as the host during that stretch.
(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
<< Mets head to Pittsburgh for makeup with Bucs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Before the New York Mets begin a critical three-game set in
Philadelphia this weekend, they must first play a makeup game in the Keystone
State against the Pittsburgh Pirates today at PNC Park.
Today's contest was original
<< Judge lifts Mayfield's suspension
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A federal judge lifted the NASCAR-imposed
suspension on driver Jeremy Mayfield Wednesday, allowing him to race again,
possibly as soon as this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
"This is huge for us.
(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
Cardinals try to even up Giants in series finale >>
(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 bel
White Sox take win streak to Kansas City >>
(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
Horse Betting
(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."
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