Padres try to string back-to-back wins together against LA

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After finally being able to end a potentially-costly 10- game skid on Monday, the San Diego Padres will try to start up a winning streak behind their best pitcher when the National League West leaders resume a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at Petco Park.

San Diego had been mired in its longest winless drought since registering a franchise-record 13 straight losses from May 8-21, 1994, and the slide had cut the team's once-comfortable lead atop the NL West down to a single game over hard-charging San Francisco. The Padres were able to get back on track at the expense of the fading Dodgers, however, coming through with a much-needed 4-2 victory in last night's opener.

The Padres still remained just one game up on the Giants, though, after San Francisco defeated Arizona on Monday. The two clubs will square off in a pivotal four-game set in San Diego beginning on Thursday.

Nick Hundley went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI to pace San Diego offensively last night, while the Padres used seven different pitchers to keep the Dodgers' offense under wraps. Mike Adams (3-1) was credited with the win after throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, with closer Heath Bell striking out two in a perfect ninth to notch his 38th save.

"I think there was a big exhale," Padres manager Bud Black said. "But again I think our guys know they have to prepare for another game. They know what month we're in."

Tim Stauffer worked the first four innings in an emergency start for San Diego and held Los Angeles to one run on four hits. The swingman was filling in for ace Mat Latos, who was scratched just hours before the game due to a stomach flu.

Latos is scheduled to take the ball tonight, which could bode well for the Padres' chances of remaining in first place. The talented youngster has yielded two runs or fewer in each of his last 14 starts and amassed an 8-1 record with a stellar 1.51 earned run average over that span. He's struck out an impressive 104 batters in 89 1/3 innings during that time period as well.

The 22-year-old hasn't won in either of his past two starts, but was able to keep the Padres in both games before they eventually lost. The right-hander held Philadelphia to one run in a seven-inning no-decision on August 27, then permitted one run and four hits while fanning 10 Arizona hitters in just six innings against the Diamondbacks this past Wednesday.

Latos, whose 2.25 ERA for the season is tops in the NL at the moment, hasn't had much luck in past matchups with the Dodgers as well. He's 0-2 in three lifetime starts against Los Angeles despite an overall ERA of 3.21, and was handed a tough 2-1 loss at Dodger Stadium on August 3 after surrendering a pair of runs in six innings.

He'll be taking on a Los Angeles squad that lost for the seventh time in nine games last night and failed to capitalize on their scoring chances in Monday's setback. The Dodgers ended the night 1-for-8 with men in scoring position and stranded two baserunners in each inning between the fourth and seventh.

"Opportunities get away, and there's not much more to add to that," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said afterward. "We had nine hits and some situations we didn't deliver."

Los Angeles also didn't get much out of starting pitcher Vicente Padilla (6-5), with the veteran lasting only four innings and allowing three runs on five hits to take the loss.

Torre will be counting on a longer outing from Clayton Kershaw, who'll be out to stop a string of three straight winless starts when he opposes Latos tonight. The hard-throwing southpaw has posted a 2.84 ERA during that stretch, however, and struck out a total of 28 batters in just 19 innings over those three games as well.

Kershaw fanned 11 Philadelphia hitters in six innings last Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, but was stuck with the loss in a 5-1 verdict after giving up a pair of runs. Five days earlier, the former first-round pick limited Colorado to one run over six frames but didn't factor in the decision of his team's 6-2 win.

The 22-year-old has been tough on the Padres this year, however, permitting only two runs and 10 hits over a combined 14 1/3 innings in a pair of victories over tonight's opponent. He's 4-2 with a 2.55 ERA in nine career encounters with San Diego and sports a 2.08 lifetime ERA at Petco Park.

Los Angeles has won seven of its 13 meetings with the Padres this season and are 4-3 in games played between the teams in San Diego in 2010.

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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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MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.

(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977.  Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.

Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer.  In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season. 

MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite.  After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.

Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions.  They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals.  The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown. 

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