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07/23/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Standout left-hander Johan Santana looks to begin another win streak tonight when the Minnesota Twins visit Rogers Centre for the first game of a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
A 19-game winner last season, Santana had won five straight starts between June 19 and July 13 before dropping a 3-2 nod to Detroit on July 18. In that start, he allowed three runs on five hits in eight innings.
Santana has faced Toronto nine times in his career, going 2-3 with a 4.15 earned run average in 43 1/3 innings.
Right-hander Shawn Marcum will attempt to snap out of a skid that's seen him lose two of three starts. The 25-year-old allowed five hits and three runs over six innings in his last outing, but lost a 6-1 decision to the New York Yankees.
He defeated the Boston Red Sox one start earlier, allowing three earned runs and seven hits in six innings.
Marcum has faced the Twins twice in his career, going 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA in 13 innings.
On Sunday in Toronto, Roy Halladay pitched a three-hit shutout as the Blue Jays blanked the Seattle Mariners, 8-0, in the finale of a three-game set.
Halladay (11-4) was dominant throughout, needing just two hours, seven minutes to dismiss the Mariners. He struck out three and walked one.
Troy Glaus hit a three-run homer while Gregg Zaun and Aaron Hill also went deep for Toronto, which has won three of its last four contests.
Zaun scored three times, and Alex Rios finished with two RBI.
In Minnesota, Joe Saunders hurled seven solid innings, and Garret Anderson homered as the LA Angels of Anaheim downed Minnesota, 7-2, in the finale of a three-game set at the Metrodome.
Jeff Cirillo and Justin Morneau each had an RBI for the Twins, who have lost four of six.
Matt Garza (1-2) allowed four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of work en route to the loss.
Minnesota and Toronto are meeting for the first time this year at the Rogers Centre. The teams have clashed seven previous times in 2007 at Minnesota, with the Twins holding a slim 4-3 edge.
<< Nets sign Frank to extension
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets signed head coach
Lawrence Frank to a multi-year extension. Per club policy, financial terms
were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to announce this contract extension, which wil
<< Minor league coach dies during game
North Little Rock, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines ) - Tulsa Drillers coach Mike Coolbaugh
died Sunday after being hit in the head by a line drive while he was serving
as the team's first base coach against the Arkansas Travelers.
Tino Sanchez hit a line
<< Report: former NBA ref receives death threats
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy,
who is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly betting on and fixing
games that he worked during the past two seasons, reportedly called
local police t
<< Report: Florida lawmen called to home of NBA ref being investigated for betting on games
NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who's being investigated by the FBI for betting on games he worked, had local lawmen at his Florida home Sunday because of threatening phone calls he's received, according to The New York Post.Three squad cars from the Manat
Bombs away: Power-swinging Yanks charge into Kansas City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees bring their powerful bats into Kansas
City for a four-game series with an improving Royals club that begins this
evening at Kauffman Stadium.
After enduring a disappointing 14-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Fr
Slumping Angels host struggling A's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling American League West teams start up a
three-game series tonight in southern California, where the division-leading
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim welcome the reeling Oakland Athletics.
Oakland comes in
First-place Dodgers begin road swing in Houston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have been struggling as of
late, will try to stay atop the NL West standings when they open a three-game
series against the Houston Astros this evening at Minute Maid Park.
The Dodgers a
Slumping Padres head to Colorado for divisional showdown >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres will try and stop a three-game slide
when they play the first of three contests against the NL West-rival Colorado
Rockies tonight at Coors Field.
San Diego just dropped three of four to the Phila
NFL betting action is back! At MySportsbook, all of the pro football odds are posted for the NFC North. Check out how we see the four teams in this cloudy division stacking up this year in the chase for the playoffs! Green Bay Packers (+125) - With QB Aaron Rodgers leading the offense and DC Dom Capers working his magic on defense, the Packers are a real force to be reckoned with.
Virtually nothing changed on this offense for Green Bay from last year to this year, save for the addition of rookie OT Brian Bulaga to the bunch. Expect more huge numbers from the Pack, and a relatively favorable schedule should get them over the hump and into the playoffs once again this season. My NFL Betting Predictions: 11-5, 1st place in NFC North Minnesota Vikings (+130) - There are still too many unknowns about the Vikes this year. There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not.
There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
Chicago Bears (+350) - The Bears are probably a bit of an overhyped team once again this year.No, we don't think it is plausible for QB Jay Cutler to have as bad of a season as he did last year, and we do think the additions of RB Chester Taylor and DE Julius Peppers are going to help immensely, but there's still something in the water in the Windy City that we aren't so sure about. Maybe Chicago finds its way to .500... but then again, maybe it doesn't. If Favre comes back, Cutler might be the worst quarterback in this division this year.
Detroit Lions (+1500) - The Lions are probably once again going to be the whipping boys for the rest of the teams in the NFC North, but they aren't just going to roll over and die once again. There is some real talent amassing on this team offensively, as the combination of QB Matt Stafford, RB Jahvid Best, WR Calvin Johnson, and TE Brandon Pettigrew should put a bunch of points on the board if the offensive line can even remotely hold up. The questions really lie on defense, where it feels like DT Ndamukong Suh is going to be trying to stop opposing teams all by himself. This year should show some marked improvement in the Motor City.
The Patriots will make NFL betting fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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