Phillies make a quick stop at Colorado

Baseball Betting Lines

09/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Given how well the Phillies have played out west over the last week, they certainly won't mind staying there for an extra game. It doesn't hurt that its a matchup against the Rockies either.

Philadelphia will try to wrap up a seven-game swing with a sixth victory and also post its fifth win in a row over Colorado tonight in a make up game at Coors Field.

After a disappointing sweep at the hands of the Astros a week ago, the Phillies headed out west to San Diego and swept a three-game set from the first-place club. They then dropped the opener of a three-game series with the Dodgers, but rebounded to take the final two games of the set.

Philadelphia took Wednesday's rubber match 5-1 behind 6 1/3 solid innings from Roy Oswalt. The right-hander lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the sixth inning and allowed just a single hit in addition to six walks.

"I was a little wild and had no command of my fastball. When I got in trouble I went with the breaking ball. That's the advantage of having four pitches -- when one isn't working you can go to another one. I was able to put enough movement on the ball to keep them off-balance," Oswalt said.

Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino both hit solo homers and Rollins scored three times for the Phillies, who have won 11 of their last 13 on the road. Chase Utley had three doubles and drove in a pair of runs.

The victory allowed Philadelphia to maintain its three-game deficit for first place in the National League East behind Atlanta as well as a 1 1/2-game edge over San Francisco for the Wild Card spot.

The Phillies were unable to gain ground on the Giants due to their 2-1 victory over the Rockies last night. Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez gave up just two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts over eight innings, but still failed in his fifth straight bid to become the NL's first 18-game winner with a fourth losing decision in a row.

Jimenez was charged with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on a wild pitch that allowed the Giants' Darren Ford to race towards third. Catcher Miguel Olivo tried to gun him down, but the throw to third sailed high and Ford was able to come home.

Carlos Gonzalez's 30th homer of the season in the fourth inning was the lone offense for Colorado, which has lost two straight after winning seven of eight and is 5 1/2 games behind Philadelphia in the Wild Card race.

Gonzalez is hitting .515 (17-for-33) with five homers and 13 RBI over a nine- game hitting streak.

"As of now we have plenty of games against people we need to catch," Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. "We kind of control our destiny, even though we are making it a little difficult for ourselves."

This will be the last time the Rockies face the Phillies this year and that is only because the second half of a slated doubleheader on May 12 was rained out. Colorado won the first game on that day at home, but was swept in Philadelphia over four games from July 23-26.

Joe Blanton finished off that sweep with six innings of two-run ball in his first ever appearance versus the Rockies, giving his club 15 wins in the last 18 regular-season meetings with Colorado. The Phils also bested the Rox in four game's in last year's NLDS.

Blanton will try to duplicate that success tonight and improve on his 6-6 season mark and 5.15 earned run average. The right-hander has won his last three decisions though and is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA over his last three starts. After a no-decision versus the Astros on Aug. 23 despite seven innings of one- run ball, Blanton bested the Padres on Saturday, yielding a run on six hits over six frames of work.

The 29-year-old is just 2-4 with a 6.06 ERA in 10 road starts this season.

The Rockies will counter with Jhoulys Chacin, who has settled down to win two straight starts after a rough return to the rotation two weeks ago.

The right-hander was tagged for five runs over five innings of a loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 17, his first appearance with the Rockies since July 23, but has posted wins over the Diamondbacks and Dodgers since, yielding just a single run and seven hits over 14 2/3 innings.

The 22-year-old righty is 7-9 with a 3.79 ERA in 22 games (15 starts) this season and will make his first career start versus the Phillies tonight. He has, however, thrown 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against them over two appearances.

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Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot.  The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.

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Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.

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.