Hapless O's take one from BoSox thanks to Matusz, Markakis

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Matusz tossed seven strong innings and Nick Markakis collected hits and drove in a run, as the Baltimore Orioles stymied the Boston Red Sox, 6-1, to salvage the finale of a three-game series at Fenway Park.

Matusz (3-9) scattered two hits, walked three and struck out eight to record his first win since April 18 at Oakland. The Orioles had dropped 12 of the last 13 games started by the young lefty.

Kevin Youkilis homered to left field off reliever Jason Berken in the ninth inning to end Baltimore's shutout bid.

Boston's John Lackey (9-4) gave up four runs on eight hits in 7 1/3 innings to take the loss.

The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning, when Markakis led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Adam Jones then stroked a single and raced home on a two-out single by Scott Moore.

Baltimore's Miguel Tejada doubled to start the eighth. Julio Lugo entered as a pinch-runner and moved up to third on a Markakis single before a throwing error allowed him to score. Markakis went to third on the miscue and came home on an Adam Jones sacrifice fly.

Lugo recorded an RBI triple in the next inning and scored on a base hit by Markakis to make it 6-0.

Game Notes

Baltimore shortstop Cesar Izturis had three hits...Boston's Terry Francona remains stuck on 899 managerial wins for his career...Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, third baseman Adrian Beltre and designated hitter David Ortiz were named to the 2010 American League All-Star team...Infielder Ty Wigginton will represent Baltimore at the Mid-Summer Classic.

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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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