Blue Jays homer five times, take series vs. Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/08/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gonzalez drove in three runs and Brett Cecil pitched seven strong innings, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Cecil (8-5) allowed one run on four hits for the Blue Jays, who have won two straight following a three-game skid. Adam Lind, Fred Lewis, Lyle Overbay, Jose Bautista and Jose Molina each hit a solo home run in the victory.

Scott Baker started on the mound and suffered the loss for the Twins, who have dropped five of their last seven games overall. Baker (7-8) yielded five runs on seven hits over six innings of work. Michael Cuddyer homered for the lone Minnesota run.

The Twins will now travel to Detroit for a key AL Central divisional weekend series against the Tigers prior to the upcoming All-Star break, while the Blue Jays will close their unofficial first half of the season with a home set against Boston.

After Lewis led off the bottom of the first with his fifth home run of the season, the Blue Jays scored four runs in the home portion of the second inning for a five-run advantage.

Lind began the second with a leadoff homer and Aaron Hill followed with a single. Edwin Encarnacion's one-out base hit preceded another single by Molina which loaded the bases. With two outs, Gonzalez drilled a double to center field and cleared the bases for a 5-0 margin.

The only run for the visitors was scored in the top of the fourth when Cuddyer reached down and belted a low fastball over the wall in left-center field.

In the seventh, solo home runs by Overbay and Molina gave the Twins a 7-1 advantage and the scoring was capped by Bautista's solo blast in the eighth.

Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless eighth before David Purcey took the mound to close it out in the top of the ninth.

Game Notes

Twins All-Star first baseman Justin Morneau, along with outfielder Delmon Young, are listed as day-to-day due to injuries suffered on Wednesday. Both missed this contest. Morneau has a mild concussion and Young has a left wrist sprain...Toronto has now captured 17 of the last 22 meetings between these clubs...Baker fell to 1-6 in nine road starts this season and is also 0-4 lifetime against the Jays after this setback...The game was completed in a swift 2 hours, 15 minutes...J.J. Hardy posted two hits in the loss.

Wwwroyalsports Baseball Betting News

<< LeBron James makes his pick: He's going to Miami
LeBron James has made his decision. He's going to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.James made his long-awaited announcement in a hastily arranged ESPN special Thursday night in Greenwich, Conn., and James wasted no time in making

<< Ainge: Forget LeBron, Celtics team to beat in East
Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge wasn't worried about The Decision.He's got his team back.``We're the Eastern Conference champions,'' Ainge said Thursday. ``And we think we're going to be better next year.''Ainge confirmed that the Celtics

<< Chappell shoots 61 for Nationwide lead
Clarksburg, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Chappell fired an 11-under 61 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. Chappell's 61 matched the course record at Raven Golf Club and earned him a two-shot lead over

<< Durant officially inks extension with Thunder
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Kevin Durant has officially signed a multi-year contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The deal is reportedly for five years. "Today is an exciting and important day in

<< Lang leads Women's Open at tough Oakmont
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittany Lang bogeyed her final hole Thursday to post a two-under 69 and take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the U.S. Women's Open Championship. Lang is not only searching for her first major cham

LeBron joins Wade, Bosh in South Beach >>
Greenwich, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James made the rumors a reality on Thursday, mirroring fellow free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh by declaring his intentions to join the Miami Heat. After seemingly endless speculation as to w

Latos' arm, bat carries Padres over Nats >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos spun seven scoreless innings and hit his first career home run to send San Diego to a 7-1 win over Washington in the last of a three-game set. Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley and Jerry Hairston

Crawford leads Rays over Tribe >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Crawford hit a pair of two-run home runs as Tampa Bay kept its hot streak going with a 5-2 decision over Cleveland in the opener of a four-game set from Tropicana Field. Carlos Pena also went deep f

Giants' Runzler leaves game with injury >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco Giants reliever Dan Runzler left Thursday's game in Milwaukee with a dislocated left kneecap. The 25-year-old left-hander will undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the severity of the i

Report: David Lee headed to Warriors in sign-and-trade >>
Bristol, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have reportedly acquired forward David Lee in a sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks. The Warriors, according to a report on ESPN.com on Thursday, will send forwards

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.