Cardinals have chance to close gap on struggling Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers will play the first of three games against the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals this evening at Miller Park.

Milwaukee is just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and 5 1/2 in front of the Cardinals in the NL Central standings. The club has struggled a bit as of late, having lost five of seven contests.

In Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park, Geoff Jenkins belted a pair of home runs and J.J. Hardy added a solo shot for the Brewers, who did win the first two games of the set.

Starting pitcher Claudio Vargas gave up two runs on five hits in six innings of work, while Carlos Villanueva suffered the loss in relief after allowing three runs in the eighth.

The Brewers will send struggling starter Chris Capuano to the mound on Tuesday. The lefty hasn't won since pitching eight shutout innings on May 7 against the Washington Nationals.

Capuano, who is 0-9 with a 6.33 ERA in his last 14 starts, absorbed the loss in his previous start on August 7 against the Colorado Rockies. He was reached for four runs in five innings of an 11-4 setback at Coors Field.

Capuano owns a 4-4 record with a 5.20 earned run average in 11 career outings against St. Louis. He is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals this season.

St. Louis has won two in a row and four of its last five games, including Sunday's 12-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the rubber match of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Ryan Ludwick hit a three-run homer and finished with four runs batted in to lead the defending World Series champions. Brendan Ryan, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis prior to the game, went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBI for the Cardinals, who are also seven games off the top spot in the NL Wild Card race.

St. Louis starter Anthony Reyes pitched six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits for the win. He also struck out five and walked just one while knocking in a run at the plate.

Taking the ball for the Cardinals this evening will be Kip Wells, who is 5-13 with a 5.26 ERA in 25 games (21 starts) this season. Wells is 1-0 over his past three trips to the hill and the Cardinals are 2-1 over that span.

In his past start on Wednesday against San Diego, Wells permitted just one unearned run in seven innings of a 2-1 triumph at Busch Stadium. He is shooting for back-to-back wins for the first time since late last season.

Wells, a right-hander, is 6-8 with a 4.49 ERA in 20 career starts against Milwaukee. However, he is 0-2 with a 7.50 earned run average in three appearances against the Brewers this season.

Milwaukee is 5-4 against the Cardinals this season, including a 3-0 mark at Miller Park. St. Louis, though, has won the last three meetings.

Onlinevasino Baseball Betting News

<< It's official: Kyle Busch to JGR
Huntersville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the worst kept secrets was made official when Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Tuesday that it had signed 22- year-old Kyle Busch to a contract. The younger brother of 2004 Nextel Cup champio

<< Karstens goes for Yanks against Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Youngster Jeff Karstens tries again for his first win of 2007 tonight when the New York Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles in game two of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander, who'll turn 25 next month

<< Blue Jays sent Halladay to hill versus Angels
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim target their fourth straight win this evening when they open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Los Angeles, which will be starting a seven-game road trip

<< White Sox kick off road swing in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox begin a week-long West Coast road trip tonight with the first of three consecutive meetings with the Oakland Athletics at McAfee Coliseum. Chicago took two of three games from the A's at the Coliseum

<< Mariners, Twins continue set at Safeco Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After coming through with another thrilling victory on Monday, the Seattle Mariners will attempt to continue their recent roll in tonight's middle test of a three-game set with the struggling Minnesota Twins from Safeco Fiel

Padres begin key series with playoff-hopeful Rockies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Francis will try to keep his unbeaten streak intact when he takes the mound this evening for the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series with the NL West-rival San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Francis

Downtrodden Dodgers continue home set with Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to stop a three-game slide when they resume a four-game series this evening versus the Houston Astros at Chavez Ravine. Los Angeles, which has lost nine of 11 and is 4-14 over its last

Jacobs Field no longer a safe haven for the Tribe >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Once upon a time, the Cleveland Indians could turn to Jacobs Field to ease their troubles. The Indians spent much of the season with the top home record in the majors, but lately they've been getting hammered pretty good i

Cardinals in must win situation >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have done everything they can to stay within striking distance in the race for the National League Central. However, the Cardinals' poor start has made it difficult for the team to make any real headwa

White Sox back on the road after ugly homestand >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox wrapped up their recent six-game homestand leaving plenty to be desired, much like how their entire 2007 season can be described to this point. The team began the month with a glimmer of hope, carryin

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.