Fukudome helps Cubs down Pirates
Baseball Betting Lines
09/01/2010 -
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kosuke Fukudome finished 3-for-3 with a pair of
doubles, two runs scored and an RBI as the Chicago Cubs set aside Pittsburgh,
5-3, in the finale of a three-game set from Wrigley Field.
Tyler Colvin, Micah Hoffpauir, Koyie Hill and Jeff Baker each knocked in a run
for the Cubs, who took two of three in the series.
Thomas Diamond (1-3) picked up his first major-league win, despite allowing
two hits and two runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Starter Tom Gorzelanny
exited after 2 2/3 innings when a line drive from Jose Tabata struck his left
hand.
Carlos Marmol recorded the final four outs, and fanned three in a scoreless
ninth to earn his 25th save.
Neal Walker had three hits including a solo homer while Andrew McCutchen
drove in two runs for the Pirates, who have lost five of six.
James McDonald (2-5) took the loss after yielding eight hits and three runs,
fanning six and walking two over five full frames.
After Walker's ninth home run of the season tied the game in the third, the
Cubs moved ahead for good in the home half.
Starlin Castro singled with one down and Fukudome followed by doubling him in.
Two batters later, a Colvin double plated Fukudome for a 3-1 contest.
McCutchen doubled home McDonald with one out in the fifth to get within a run,
but Chicago tallied twice in the seventh on a Hoffpauir RBI single and a base
hit from Baker to score Fukudome.
McCutchen's bases-loaded walk against Marmol in the eighth made it 5-3, but
the Cubs closer fanned Tabata to end the frame.
Marmol then struck out the side in the ninth to close out the game.
Hill drove in Darwin Barney, who singled with two out in the second, to get
the Cubs on the board.
Tabata's line-drive with one out in the third deflected off Gorzelanny's hand
before being caught by Chicago second-baseman Blake DeWitt.
Game Notes
Pittsburgh still leads the season series, 10-5, including five of nine at
Wrigley...Mike Quade improved to 6-3 since taking over for Lou
Piniella...Prior to the game, the Pirates recalled outfielder John Bowker from
Triple-A Indianapolis.
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<< Venus reaches third round at U.S. Open
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contract, according to multiple reports in both cities.
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<< Royals catcher Kendall to have shoulder surgery
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Jason Kendall, who had been the Kansas City Royals starting catcher in 118 of their first 132 games, will undergo shoulder surgery Friday in Los Angeles for a torn right rotator cuff.Royals manager Ned Yost said the recovery t
Rockies reinstate P Buchholz from DL >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies have reinstated
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Iowa offensive lineman Hundertmark to leave Hawkeyes >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa junior offensive lineman Cody
Hundertmark has left the football program to concentrate on academics.
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Oswalt solid as Phils down Dodgers >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roy Oswalt lost a no-hitter with two outs
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Oswal
Cardinals lock up DT Dockett >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals have signed defensive
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Royals' Kendall set for shoulder surgery >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals catcher Jason Kendall is
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disclosed on
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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