Bruce's blast beats Bravos
Baseball Betting Lines
06/01/2008 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Bruce continued his scorching first week in the majors, going 2-for-3 with a solo homer and an RBI single, and the Reds capped a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 6-2 win.
Ken Griffey Jr., who belted career home run No. 599 on Saturday, remained one shy of the 600 club, but did go 2-for-3 and scored a run. Johnny Cueto (4-5) didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning, and finished up letting up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in seven frames.
Bruce has gone 13-for-22 with two home runs -- the first a game-ending shot in Saturday's 8-7, 10-inning win -- since being called up.
Adam Dunn also homered for the Reds, who swept the Braves in Cincinnati for the first time in 12 years, and have won five of six overall.
Tim Hudson (7-4) let up seven hits and four runs -- three earned -- with three strikeouts and three walks in seven-plus innings. Hudson left in the seventh with a strained left hamstring. Back-to-back homers by Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann in the seventh provided the only offense for the Braves, who went 1-5 on a road trip through Cincinnati and Milwaukee to fall to 7-21 on the road.
The Reds pulled away with three runs in the seventh. Edwin Encarnacion led off with a single to left, and Hudson pulled up lame after that pitch, limping around the mound and doubling over before leaving. A Paul Bako sac bunt, and a Yunel Escobar throwing error put runners at the corners, and Jerry Hairston Jr. executed a suicide squeeze bunt, plating one insurance run.
Bruce followed with a single to left, scoring another run. Griffey was issued an intentional walk, and Buddy Carlyle then walked Brandon Phillips before a wild pitch that allowed Bruce to score. Carlyle got out of the jam by intentionally walking Dunn to load the bases and getting Joey Votto to fly out to left, but the damage was already done.
The Braves got two men on with two outs in the ninth against Jared Burton, but pinch-hitter Ruben Gotay grounded out to first to end the game.
Dunn gave the Reds the early advantage with his lead-off blast in the second, a drive to the stands in right. Bruce gave the Reds a 2-0 lead with his second home run in as many days, a solo shot to right with one out in the third.
Griffey followed with a double to right, and came home on a Phillips double to center. Phillips was thrown out trying to head to third, though, and Dunn grounded out to end the inning.
Cueto breezed through the first five innings, retiring 19 of the first 20 batters, and no-hitting the Braves until Gregor Blanco reached on a bunt to lead off the sixth. The Atlanta lineup sprung to life in the seventh, though, on consecutive solo shots by Teixeira and McCann.
After a Chipper Jones groundout to start the frame, Teixeira went deep to right, his eighth of the season. McCann followed with another long fly ball to right, his 10th of the campaign, slicing the Cincinnati lead to 3-2. Jeff Francoeur roped a double to left, but Cueto bore down, getting Greg Norton to foul out and Blanco to fly out to center to hold the lead.
Game Notes
Hudson will be evaluated on Monday. Braves reliever Blaine Boyer left with an undisclosed injury later in the seventh after recording one out...The Reds have won 12 of 13 at home...The Braves were last swept in Cincinnati from September 2-4, 1996...This was Hudson's first career loss to the Reds. He had been 3-0 against the club.
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<< PITCHING COMPARISON
2008 HOME AWAY TEAMPITCHERS LINE G GS W L ERA AIPS REC ERA REC ERA RECCIN Arroyo (R) 7:05p 12 12 4-4 5.29 5.1 1-3 5.45 3-1 5.12 6-6PHI Kendrick (R) -135 11 11 4-2 4.84 5.1 2-1 3.29 2
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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.