Blalock's HR in ninth lifts Rangers over Angels
Baseball Betting Lines
07/02/2009 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hank Blalock went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs, including a two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth inning, to lift the Rangers past the Angels, 9-7, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
After the Angels scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game, Los Angeles sent Justin Speier (3-2) to the mound in the bottom half. Michael Young stroked a single to center to begin the inning, but David Murphy and Marlon Byrd recorded two quick outs. Blalock then stepped to the plate and belted a first-pitch fastball over the center-field wall to give Texas the improbable win.
Young went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Rangers, who have won two straight after a three-game skid. Chris Davis drove in a pair of runs, while Murphy and Julio Borbon each knocked in a run.
Frank Francisco (2-1) picked up the win despite giving up three runs on two hits in the ninth. Francisco blew his second save of the season. Starter Kevin Millwood went 6 1/3 frames, allowing four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
Juan Rivera went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer in the ninth for the Angels, who have dropped two in a row after a six-game winning streak. Torii Hunter stroked a two-run double, while Maicer Izturis and Chone Figgins each drove in a run.
Jered Weaver went 5 1/3 frames, allowing seven runs on eight hits with three strikeouts for LA.
The Rangers thought they had the game all wrapped up when they sent Francisco to the mound in the top of the ninth with a three-run cushion. In fact, Francisco was down to the last out of the game despite walking Bobby Abreu and Hunter. But Rivera stepped to the plate and drove a 2-0 fastball just over the wall in right-center field to deadlock the contest.
The Rangers scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning to break a scoreless contest. Blalock got things started with a one-out, solo home run over the wall in right-center field. Nelson Cruz then singled, stole second, and scored on Davis' single to right.
Los Angeles plated a run in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to one. Vladimir Guerrero and Rivera singled to put men on the corners with one out. Izturis stepped to the plate and lined into a sacrifice double play.
Texas responded with five runs in the home half of the frame to extend its margin to 7-1. Byrd walked and Blalock doubled to put men on second and third with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Borbon then stroked an RBI single, before Blalock scored on a wild pitch. Davis added an RBI groundout, while Young and Murphy hit RBI singles later in the frame.
The Angels put a three-spot on the board in the seventh. Erick Aybar hit a one-out single, advanced to second on Borbon's fielding error, and scored on Figgins' triple to center. After Abreu walked, Hunter stroked a two-run double to right. Darren O'Day got the Rangers out of a jam after taking over for Millwood on the hill.
Game Notes
LA finished a six-game road trip with a 4-2 record...Cruz left the game in the bottom of the sixth with a stiff back...The Rangers have now won six of their last eight matchups with LA and swept a three-game set from the Angels in Arlington from May 15-17...Texas will welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to town for a three-game set, starting Friday. LA will begin a 10-game homestand with a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles, starting Thursday.
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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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