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Braves send Hanson to hill in finale with CubsBaseball Betting Lines04/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Heyward has already made his presence felt during his very brief time in the major leagues. Another of the Atlanta Braves' young phenoms will be trying to make a quick impact when the team concludes its season-opening three-game series with the visiting Chicago Cubs tonight at Turner Field. Taking the mound for Atlanta this evening will be Tommy Hanson, who like Heyward, broke into the majors amidst a ton of hype when he debuted last season. The 23-year-old certainly didn't disappoint, as he won his first five decisions in an Atlanta uniform and finished the year with an 11-4 record and a sensational 2.89 earned run average. The gifted right-hander also struck out 116 batters in 127 innings and allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 starts. Hanson, who will be taking on the Cubs for the first time, went 7-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 Turner Field starts during his rookie campaign. The Braves had an 8-3 record in those contests. He'll be attempting to give Atlanta a sweep of this set, with Heyward playing a key role in each of the team's first two victories. The 20-year-old outfielder smacked a three-run homer in his first big league at-bat during Monday's 16-5 shellacking of the Cubs, then delivered an RBI double that helped lift the Braves to a 3-2 decision in Wednesday's second game. Heyward, rated the game's No. 1 overall prospect by Baseball America in the preseason, has gone 3-for-8 with five RBI over the first two games of this series. One of the longtime Braves turned out to be the hero in Wednesday's win, however, as veteran third baseman Chipper Jones belted a two-run homer off John Grabow in the bottom of the eighth that put Atlanta up by one. "I took a chance [with the count] 3-1 that [Grabow] was going to throw a changeup, and I got a pitch up in the zone and put a great swing on it," said Jones of the blast. Billy Wagner, signed over the winter to serve as Atlanta's closer, picked up his first save in a Braves uniform with a scoreless ninth. Peter Moylan got the win after keeping the Cubs off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth. Chicago had taken a 2-1 edge with two unearned runs off Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens in the fifth, with Alfonso Soriano scoring on a bases-loaded error by Braves first baseman Troy Glaus and Ryan Theriot following with a go-ahead sacrifice fly. Cubs starter Ryan Dempster was in line for the win after limiting the Braves to just one run and three hits over the first six innings. He struck out nine Atlanta hitters before exiting. Chicago's Randy Wells, also coming off a very good first full year in the majors, will take the mound for the visitors in tonight's series finale. The right-hander was one of the few bright spots of the Cubs' disappointing 2009 season, putting together a 12-10 record with a 3.05 ERA in 27 starts after being called up from Triple-A Iowa in early May. He surrendered two or less runs in 17-of-27 outings following the promotion. One of Wells' wins came against the Braves in Chicago last July, with the Illinois native firing six innings of two-run ball. He also pitched well in a no-decision at Turner Field a month earlier, holding Atlanta to a pair of runs -- one earned -- and only two hits over a strong seven frames. Atlanta won four of the six 2009 meetings between these teams and took two of three from the Cubs in Chicago's lone visit to Turner Field.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had many strong finishes over the years, but the club is starting to make a habit of good starts. The Bucs take on the Los Angeles Dodgers once again this afternoon at PNC Park, where the lon
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies were the National League's best team last season, while the Washington Nationals finished at the bottom of the pack. Not much has changed so far in 2010. The defending league champion Phillies set
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook BettingNFL 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. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs. |
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