Cubs resume impressive homestand vs. D'backs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs are enjoying a very successful homestand and will hope that trend continues this afternoon with the opener of a three- game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs swept a three-game set with Houston to begin the 10-game residency before taking three of four against San Francisco, including Thursday's 9-8 victory that was overshadowed by two home runs from Barry Bonds.

Ted Lilly (10-4) served up Bonds' first homer, but got the win behind five innings of three-run ball. Aramis Ramirez provided the offensive spark in the absence of Derrek Lee, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored.

Alfonso Soriano also had three hits, scored twice and knocked in a run, while Jacque Jones finished 4-for-5.

The Cubs did suffer a set of injuries in the game, though. Daryle Ward, subbing for Lee at first base, was forced out of the game in the second inning due to a right calf strain, while Cliff Floyd left in the third with a sore neck after a collision at first.

Ward's injury may be the most concerning due to the fact Lee is currently serving a five-game suspension -- he will sit out his third game today -- and is not eligible to return until Tuesday. Mark DeRosa came off the bench to spell Ward yesterday.

Meanwhile, closer Ryan Dempster could be activated from the disabled list today for Chicago, which is 3 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Jason Marquis will try to shake off two recent horrid outings when he starts today for the Cubs. The right-hander has allowed six runs and eight hits in each of his last two starts while pitching just a total of 8 2/3 innings. Marquis began the season 5-1 through seven starts, but is now just 6-5 with a 4.03 earned run average.

Despite a 2.84 ERA in seven career outings (six starts) against the Diamondbacks, Marquis is just 1-3 against them. That lone victory came on May 13 of last season behind seven innings of one-run ball and was the first of five straight winning starts for Marquis.

Chicago wasn't able to gain any ground on the Brewers despite their winning ways against the Giants, and the club has the Diamondbacks to blame for that. Arizona comes into this series having just lost three of four to Milwaukee, including a 10-1 rout at the hands of the Brew Crew on Thursday.

Livan Hernandez (5-6) was ripped for eight hits and six runs -- five earned -- in 5 1/3 innings, while Conor Jackson's solo homer provided the only run for Arizona.

Overall, the club has lost 12 of its last 16 games and is currently 4 1/2 games behind San Diego for the top spot in the NL West.

Brandon Webb will toe the rubber for the Diamondbacks today and is aiming for his first win in four starts. Webb is 0-2 over his last three outings, including a loss on Sunday against the Padres.

The right-hander allowed four runs (three earned), but was also battered for 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner did strikeout 10 batters, however, to just two walks.

The 28-year-old Webb is pitching to a 4.40 ERA over his last five starts and has fallen to 8-7 on the season with a 3.42 ERA.

He has pitched well historically against the Cubs in his career, going 4-0 with a 2.52 earned run average over six starts against them.

Arizona has also had recent success against Chicago. It won four of six against the Cubs in 2006, and is 13-6 against them since the start of the 2004 season.

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

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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