Cubs seek another win over visiting Phils

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been all smiles for the Chicago Cubs on their current homestand and they'll go for a series victory this afternoon in the third test of a four-game series versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs opened their 10-game homestand by handing the Phillies a 12-6 loss in Thursday's series opener before taking yesterday's second portion of this series, 4-3, on an Aramis Ramirez solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Ramirez ended 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Marlon Byrd tied the game with a two-run homer in the sixth inning for the Cubs, who have won six of their last nine games.

"If that continues," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said on the team's site, "it's like a little forest fire that starts spreading a little bit. Let's keep working and keep playing and hope we keep winning some baseball games."

Ted Lilly started for the Cubs and did not record a decision after giving up three runs in seven innings. Sean Marshall recorded the victory with a scoreless eighth and Carlos Marmol struck out three in the ninth for his 17th save of the season.

Chicago will also host Houston and St. Louis on the residency.

Since beginning the season 3-0 over his first five starts, Cubs starter Randy Wells has struggled mightily. He is just 1-7 with a 5.11 earned run average in his last 13 starts and will take the ball Saturday.

Wells was solid in his last appearance, hurling seven innings of three-run ball in a 3-2 loss at Los Angeles on July 8. He struck out seven Dodgers that day and allowed just one walk before falling to 4-7 overall with a 4.61 ERA.

The right-hander is 2-3 in nine home starts in 2010 and has never faced the Phillies in his career.

Philadelphia entered the All-Star break fresh off a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, but are now having trouble with another NL Central foe. In Friday's tough loss, reliever Ryan Madson gave up Ramirez's bomb to left in the eighth inning to absorb the defeat.

Joe Blanton was decent through the first seven innings and allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with eight K's in the no-decision. Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer and Shane Victorino delivered a solo shot to get the Phils on the board first in the fourth inning.

"We just need to get runs. We need to keep them from scoring runs," Howard said. "Laws of baseball. Outscore the other team."

The Phillies are still 5 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the lead in the National League East, while the New York Mets sit five games off the pace. Both the Braves and Mets lost on Friday. Philadelphia will visit St. Louis for four games after its trip to the Windy City.

Philly hopes that Cole Hamels can stay on the winning side of things when he takes the mound today. Hamels was 1-5 in eight starts before winning his most recent trip to the hill, a 1-0 victory versus Cincinnati on Sunday. He threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings and gave up six hits with three strikeouts and three walks to improve to 7-7 in 18 starts and lower his ERA to 3.78.

Hamels, a left-hander, will try to even his road record Saturday, as he sports a 3-4 ledger in eight away starts this season. The 2008 World Series MVP is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs.

The Phillies had a five-game winning streak at Wrigley Field halted with Thursday's loss, but have still won eight of the past 12 meetings between the ballclubs.

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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."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

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.

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