Padres end skid at 10, nip Dodgers to stay alone in first

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Hundley homered and drove in two runs, and the Padres snapped a 10-game skid with a 4-2 win over the Dodgers to barely maintain first place in the NL West.

The San Francisco Giants threatened to put the division in a virtual tie after beating Arizona, 2-0, in 11 innings earlier Monday, but the Padres ended their longest losing streak since a franchise-record 13-game string in 1994 to keep a one-game edge.

David Eckstein added an insurance sacrifice fly in the seventh inning for San Diego, which used seven pitchers in the opener of this three-game series. Tim Stauffer lasted four frames in the emergency start for Mat Latos, who was scratched due to the stomach flu. Mike Adams (3-1) pitched 1 2/3 frames for the win and Heath Bell threw the ninth inning for 38th save of the season. He's converted 25 straight save chances, but didn't have an opportunity for one since August 19 at Wrigley Field when the Padres beat the Cubs.

Vicente Padilla (6-5) was charged with five hits and three runs over four innings, as the Dodgers lost for the fifth time in six contests.

The Dodgers had their chances in the sixth and seventh, but didn't capitalize in big situations and finished the night by going 1-for-8 with men in scoring position. They left two men on base in each inning between the fourth and seventh.

Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, the Dodgers put men on first and second with no outs, but Ryan Webb fanned Matt Kemp. Ryan Theriot grounded out, and Brad Ausmus left two men in scoring position when he grounded back to the mound.

Scott Podsednik hit his first homer in a Dodger uniform in the seventh off Luke Gregerson, but Adams escaped a jam later in the frame. With men on first and second, he fanned Andre Ethier to end the inning.

Aaron Cunningham doubled off Jonathan Broxton in the seventh and scored on Eckstein's fly ball to center.

The Dodgers didn't have a man on base in the final two innings.

Hundley hit the first pitch of the bottom of the third over the wall in left, but Ethier's single scored James Loney in the fourth. Theriot lined out to keep runners on first and second to end the inning.

The Padres loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth, and a fielder's choice grounder from Will Venable scored Adrian Gonzalez. It became 3-1 when Hundley singled in Miguel Tejada.

Loney popped out to leave two runners on base in the fifth.

Game Notes

The Dodgers hold a 7-6 edge in the season series...Earlier Monday, the Padres selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Mike Baxter from Triple-A Portland and designated pitcher Steve Garrison for assignment...The Dodgers recalled pitchers John Ely and Jon Link as well as infielder Chin-lung Hu. The club also purchased the contracts of 33-year-old first baseman John Lindsey and 25-year-old third baseman Russ Mitchell from Triple-A Albuquerque. Lindsey will make his major league debut sometime this month after a 15-year minor league career with four organizations.

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Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

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MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

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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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