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06/24/2010 -
SEATTLE (AP) -Left-hander Erik Bedard could make his season debut as early as July 6 if he is able to get through the next week without any injury setbacks.
Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said Thursday that Bedard will throw for the Mariners' team in the Arizona League on Saturday. If that start goes well, Bedard will make a start next Thursday at Triple-A Tacoma and could make his first appearance of 2010 for the Mariners on July 6 against Kansas City.
Bedard has not pitched since having shoulder surgery in August. He threw 2 2-3 innings and allowed one run on Tuesday in his first start for the Mariners rookie league team in Arizona.
Bedard is 11-7 with a 3.24 ERA in 30 starts over two seasons since being acquired by the Mariners before the 2008 season.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Thrashers tab Ramsay next head coach
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers are expected to name
Craig Ramsay their next head coach at a 4 p.m. press conference Thursday.
Ramsay was an assistant coach for Boston the last three seasons and previously
served a
<< Bruins extend D Boychuk
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins have signed defenseman
Johnny Boychuk to a two-year contract extension.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Boychuk recorded five goals and 10 assists in 51 games this past season
<< Nadal, Murray, Soderling reach third round at Big W
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Rafael Nadal, heavy
British crowd favorite Andy Murray and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling
highlighted some of the second-round winners at Wimbledon, which enjoyed its
first visit
<< Fiorentina loans Nsereko to 1860 Munich
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fiorentina has allowed midfielder Savio
Nsereko to join 1860 Munich on a season-long loan agreement.
The 20-year-old started his career at Brescia but has since struggled during
spells with West Ham U
Angry Swiss ready for group finale against Honduras >>
Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Switzerland defender Steve Von
Bergen admitted the team was "angry" after a loss to Chile on Monday, when a
red card to Valon Behrami proved too much for the Swiss to overcome.
Switzerland h
Escudero leaves Villarreal for Boca Juniors >>
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villarreal has allowed Argentinian
midfielder Damian Escudero to move to Boca Juniors in his homeland for an
undisclosed transfer fee.
The 23-year-old joined the Yellow Submarine from Velez Sa
Serena, Sharapova win second-rounders at Wimbledon >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Serena Williams and
former champ Maria Sharapova were straight-set second-round victors Thursday,
on a day when Queen Elizabeth II visited Wimbledon for the first time in 33
years.
T
Shoppach and Garza send Rays past Padres >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kelly Shoppach went 3-for-4 with a solo
home run to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres in
the finale of a three-game interleague set.
B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena each had a
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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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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