Gwynn's hit lifts Padres over Astros in ninth

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Gwynn singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift San Diego to a dramatic 3-2 win over Houston to finish off a four-game set.

Yorvit Torrealba led off the decisive frame with a single and moved to second base on an Aaron Cunningham sacrifice bunt before Everth Cabrera was given an intentional pass. Pinch-hitter Matt Stairs then walked to load the bases and Gwynn followed with a bouncing ball through the middle to deliver Torrealba to give the Padres their third straight win in the series in their final at-bat.

Heath Bell (4-0) worked a scoreless top of the ninth to earn the win after Houston had scored to tie the game in the eighth.

Brandon Lyon (5-3) suffered the loss after allowing the decisive run on two hits and three walks over 1 1/3 innings for Houston, which has dropped four out of six.

Mike Adams opened the eighth on the hill for San Diego and gave up a leadoff single to Jeff Keppinger that was followed by Lance Berkman's run-scoring triple that knotted the game at two. But the visitors offensive struggles continued, as Hunter Pence grounded out, Carlos Lee struck out and Jason Michaels flied out to leave Berkman stranded at third.

Houston got on the board first as Berkman hit a solo home run with two outs in the first to snap an 18-inning scoreless drought.

Cunningham's two-out, two-run single in the fourth gave San Diego the lead for the first time. Scott Hairston started the rally after Brett Myers had retired the first two hitters with a single and scored, along with Chase Headley, who had followed with a walk.

The Astros put runners at the corners with two outs in the seventh after a walk to pinch-hitter Jason Bourgeois that spelled the end for San Diego starter Wade LeBlanc. He was replaced by Ryan Webb, who induced pinch-hitter Chris Johnson to ground out to end the frame.

LeBlanc gave up a lone run on three hits and three walks while fanning a pair, while Myers went six innings during which he allowed two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out two.

Game Notes

The hit was Gwynn's first career walk-off winner...San Diego won the season series, 5-2, for the first time since 2004...Houston outfielder Michael Bourn was selected as a first time All-Star...Berkman's homer was his first as a right-hand hitter this season...Myers became the first Astros pitcher since Roy Oswalt did it between August 2, 2008-April 27, 2009 to work six innings or more in 17 consecutive starts and the first to do it in the same season since Oswalt did it in 20 straight turns during the 2005 campaign.

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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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