 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Canada falls short at WorldsBaseball Betting Lines08/02/2010 - Thunder Bay, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They didn't get the result they wanted, but Team Canada leaves Thunder Bay with heads held high. Less than a day after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to Chinese Taipei, Canada was unable to solve Cuban pitcher Eddyalb Valentin, finishing the tournament in fourth place and ending any hopes of medalling on home soil. Valentin (2-1) pitched five-plus innings of one-run ball while striking out eight, and Andy Ibanez hit a three-run homer to power Cuba to an 8-2 victory and its second straight bronze medal at the World Junior Baseball Championship. "It's tough to lose like we did last night," said Team Canada head coach Greg Hamilton. "You have a gold medal potentially in sight, and then you have to bounce back 12 hours later. But that's the reality of it and that's what makes these tournaments special. "Unfortunately, we didn't bounce back." Ibanez' blast to deep right center off Tom Robson (0-1) in the fifth broke a scoreless tie and proved to be the difference in front of a packed house at Port Arthur Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The five-foot-nine shortstop, who was relegated from the leadoff spot to No. 9 in the order following a 3-for-23 tournament, went 3-for-4 and gave the Cubans the offensive jolt they had been missing after outscoring their opponents 29-1 through the first three games of the round robin. Robson, familiar with the Cubans after blanking them for six innings during a 3-0 loss in group play, allowed seven hits and four runs over six-plus innings. The right-hander from Ladner, B.C. retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and appeared to be well in control of the game, getting late movement on his curveball and preventing Cuba from mounting any sort of substantial rally. But after a single by Lazaro Hernandez to open the fifth, followed by a walk to catcher Dariel Crespo, Ibanez blasted a three-run shot over the fence in right to give Cuba a 3-0 lead that would ultimately spell the end of Canada's podium aspirations. And Valentin was a big part of it. The 18-year-old lefty from Santiago de Cuba continued his strong showing at the tournament, keeping a solid Canadian offense off the board for five innings with four of his first six outs coming via strikeout. "He bared down and got the outs when he needed to," said designated hitter Philip Diedrick. "We should have shown a little better plate discipline but there's nothing really you can do about it when he's making pitches." Valentin scattered seven hits while walking three for his second victory at the WJBC. The only Canadian to tag the lefty for extra bases was none other than Diedrick, who continued his impressive showing over the 10-day tournament. Diedrick led off the second, fourth and sixth inning with hits, proving to scouts he has the type of power and approach required to hit at the next level. His single to start the sixth paved the way for Canada's first run of the game after Alex Calbick's sacrifice fly cashed Diedrick and cut the Cubans' lead to 3-1. "He's going to be a good hitter going forward," said Hamilton of his six-foot- one, 202-pound DH. "He's a big strong kid and he's not a one-dimensional kind of guy. He will go the other way a little bit for you as well. "I thought he had a real nice tournament." The Toronto Blue Jays' 45th-round draft pick, Diedrick finished the tournament 14-for-31 (.452) with a team-leading 10 RBI after going 3-for-4 on Sunday. Although Diedrick was disappointed in his team's result, he acknowledged the type of impact an individual performance like that could have on his career. "It lets you know where you compare on a world stage," said the Ajax, Ont.- native. "In Canada, you know you're one of the top 20 players and then when you go and play against the U.S. or other countries, you can see where you stack up." Another bright spot for Canada was Burnaby, B.C.-native Calbick, who was a staple in Hamilton's lineup after starting the tournament on the bench. Calbick went 1-for-3 against Cuba to finish with a team-high .528 average over eight games. "Obviously the Cubans are one of the top teams in the world," said Calbick after the game. "We can hang with them, it just got away in the last three innings." The Cubans would tack on more in the seventh when, with two men on, Victor Rivas doubled to right to score Crespo before rightfielder Rowan Wick and second baseman Justin Atkinson teamed up on a relay to nail Ibanez at the plate. Cuba would add one more in the top of the eighth, following a pinch-hit double by Gourriell and subsequent sacrifice fly by Yasiel Balaguert to extend the lead to 5-1. After going 4-1 through round robin play and proving their worth on the international stage, Hamilton chalked it up to not getting it done when it counts. "The last two days, we didn't get timely hitting and that's what it came down to," he said. "The clubs that we played did so, if you don't get the hit that you need against good teams, you're not going to win."
<< Sunderland's Ferdinand suffers hamstring injury
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand seems certain to miss the start of the campaign after suffering a hamstring injury during the preseason clash against Leicester City. The former West Ham man
<< Hannover adds midfielder Carlitos
<< Marchena completes Villarreal switch
<< Fabiano to remain at Sevilla
<< Breakers continue to stay hot
Spurned Colangelo takes aim at Bosh >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When people are spurned by the apple of their eye, it's almost natural to expect a little bitterness to bubble to the surface. After LeBron James made his decision to spurn Cleveland for the Miami Heat on
Blackhawks to let Niemi walk, sign Turco >>
Dodgers try to get back into playoff mix in opener with Padres >>
Heat sign Beverley >>
Orioles hoping Showalter will open new era >>
NFL Football Office Pool Printable SheetsNFL Office Pool SheetsMySportsbook.com is considered one of the finest online sportsbook according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction. MySportsbook is offering a free printable NFL football office pool sheets. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury. Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your nfl football pool sheets needs.
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." 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. |
|
