Giants blast Reds
Baseball Betting Lines
08/24/2010 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Cain pitched eight solid innings, while Aubrey Huff and Pablo Sandoval each registered three runs batted in, as San Francisco blasted Cincinnati, 11-2, in the first of three games from AT&T Park.
Cain (10-10) mowed through the Reds order, allowing just two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Huff hit his 22nd home run of the season, Andres Torres hit a two-run home run and scored twice and Freddy Sanchez finished 4-for-5 with two RBI for the Giants, who snapped a two-game skid. They moved within one game of Philadelphia in the National League wild-card race after the Phillies dropped a 3-2 decision to Houston on Monday.
Edinson Volquez (3-2) didn't make it through the first frame, surrendering five runs on five hits with three walks and one strikeout over just two-thirds of a frame. Scott Rolen drove in the two runs for the Reds, who lost for the second time in three games and saw their National League Central lead trimmed to 2 1/2 games over St. Louis, which blasted Pittsburgh, 10-2, on Monday.
The Giants, who had scored just one run combined in consecutive losses to St. Louis, chased Volquez for a five-spot in the home first. Torres walked in front of Buster Posey's infield single to third. Huff followed with a gapper past Jay Bruce in right for a two-run double. Pat Burrell followed with another two-bagger to score Huff and moved to third on a wild pitch. Sandoval laced a run-scoring single to left and moved to second on Juan Uribe's walk. Sanchez's double, the third of the frame, scored Sandoval with the fifth run.
Cain's lone difficulty came in the third, all with two outs. Laynce Nix beat out an infield grounder to first, keeping alive the frame and bringing up Joey Votto, who clubbed a ground-rule double that one-hopped the wall in left- center field. Rolen followed with a two-run triple past Torres in center field.
The Giants answered with a two-spot in the home half. Sanchez led off with a single, but was wiped away on Cain's bunt into a force out. Torres followed with a long home run to center field for a 7-2 game.
After Bruce's single in the fourth, Cain settled in, retiring 14 straight Reds with four strikeouts. Huff added a towering solo home run into the seats in right field for an 8-2 edge in the home eighth. Newly-acquired Cody Ross singled and Nate Schierholtz doubled before Sandoval smoked a two-run double that hit midway up the wall in left-center field. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the game's final run on Sanchez's groundout in the same frame.
Game Notes
San Francisco placed relief pitcher Guillermo Mota on the 15-day disabled list with IT band syndrome in his left leg. The move opened a roster spot for Ross, who was acquired off waivers from Florida, flew to the stadium and contributed in the eighth...Nix strained his left ankle while running the bases in the third and Reds outfielder Jim Edmonds strained his oblique while batting in the sixth...Giants starting pitchers have won just three of the last 19 games.
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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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