Pirates extend Rockies' slide in series opener

Baseball Betting Lines

07/27/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Neil Walker finished 3-for-4 with a solo home run as Pittsburgh continued Colorado's second-half slide with a 4-2 victory at Coors Field.

Zach Duke (5-9) started the three-game set with six solid innings, allowing two runs on just three hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks. Octavio Dotel pitched the ninth frame for his 21st save of the season. The Pirates snapped a four-game skid with the victory.

Jorge De La Rosa (3-3) took the loss, surrendering three runs -- two earned -- on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks over seven frames. Brad Hawpe and Clint Barmes hit back-to-back home runs for the Rockies, who have lost seven straight.

The Rockies activated their star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the 15-day disabled list before the game after he missed 33 games with a fractured left wrist. He went 0-for-4 and committed his sixth error of the season.

The Pirates jumped out for two runs in the top of the first as Andrew McCutchen shot a ball down the left-field line for a double and scored on Jose Tabata's single to center. Walker followed with a bunt single, and after a double play grounder from Garrett Jones, a wild pitch plated Tabata.

Colorado didn't score a run until the fifth frame when Hawpe measured up a first-pitch fastball, driving it into the left field seats. Barmes followed with a homer of his own, tying the game at 2-2.

The Pirates didn't waver, striking right back in the sixth with the aide of a Tulowitzki fielding error. He misplayed Tabata's grounder then Walker reached on an infield single. Jones doubled home Tabata, putting runners on second and third with nobody out, but the Pirates failed to score again. Pedro Alvarez struck out, Lastings Milledge was walked to load the bases and Ronny Cedeno bounced into an inning-ending double play.

The Rockies threatened in the home half of the seventh with Miguel Olivo's leadoff double. Hawpe moved him to third with a groundout, but the Pirates brought the infield in so the catcher couldn't score on Barmes' grounder to third. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith walked, but Evan Meek retired Dexter Fowler on a grounder to the mound to thwart the threat.

"We need to come up with a hit there," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "That's basically what's been going on."

Walker hit a solo home run in the eighth to build a two-run cushion at 4-2.

The Rockies brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth after Hawpe's two- out double to left. However, Dotel got Jason Giambi to loft a fly ball to left to end the game.

Game Notes

Colorado closer Huston Street was taken to the hospital after being hit in the lower abdomen by a line drive off the bat of Ian Stewart during batting practice. He suffered a right abdominal contusion...With Tulowitzki's return, the club designated infielder Brad Eldred for assignment to clear a roster spot...Hawpe hit his sixth home run of the season, while Barmes clubbed his eighth.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.