Barajas leads Dodgers over Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newly-acquired Rod Barajas hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-3 win over Milwaukee in the opener of a three-game set.

Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run, a 447-foot shot in the second inning off Dave Bush. Barajas, who was acquired from the New York Mets on a waiver claim Sunday, finished the game 3-for-4 for the Dodgers, who have won two of their last three games.

Ted Lilly (8-8) won his fifth consecutive start as he gave up three runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 frames.

"That was a good one for us," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "Our catcher the other day had three hits, too. I guess our managers dumb for batting them eighth. The two doubles were a bonus, but the home run was a game-changer. When you get traded sometimes, you're so excited to get to your net team."

Rickie Weeks hit a solo home run while Casey McGehee went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Brewers, who have dropped their past two games. Bush (6-11) was handed the loss as he was charged with five runs on 10 hits over six innings.

"Bush would like to have a couple of pitches back," said Milwaukee manager Ken Macha. "A couple of two-strike breaking balls got too much over the plate and accounted for all their runs. Besides that he pitched good."

The Dodgers went ahead in the second as James Loney led off with a single and Kemp followed with a blast over the center field wall.

The Brewers got a run back in the bottom of the second as Prince Fielder led off with a single and McGehee brought him home with a triple to make it a 2-1 game. McGehee was stranded at third as the next three batters recorded outs.

Milwaukee then went ahead in the fifth. With two outs, Weeks homered to right to tie the game. Alcides Escobar then singled and Ryan Braun's double to left scored Escobar for a 3-2 lead.

Los Angeles, though, surged ahead in the sixth. With two outs, Ronnie Belliard kept the inning alive with a single and Jamey Carroll followed with a single. Barajas then launched a pitch over the left field wall for a 5-3 lead.

Lilly worked around a leadoff double by McGehee in the sixth and got the first out of the seventh before handing the ball to Ronald Belisario, who set down the next two batters.

With one out in the eighth, Fielder doubled, but McGehee lined out to third and Fielder was caught off the bag for the double play to end the frame.

Hong-Chih Kuo came on to close the game and got the first out, but Carlos Gomez laid down a bunt single. Jonathan Lucroy then hit one back to the mound and Kuo's throw to second base went into the outfield, leaving everyone safe. Kuo, though, then got pinch-hitter Corey Hart to pop out and Weeks to strike out and pick up his fifth save of the season.

Game Notes

Former Milwaukee owner and current baseball commissioner Bud Selig was honored with a bronze, 7-foot statue in front of Miller Park on Tuesday...Each team has won twice in the season series...Gomez was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game as he was suffering from a concussion...Lilly has won all five of his starts with Los Angeles since coming to the team from the Cubs.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.