Angels, Mariners continue set at Big A

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have owned the Seattle Mariners this season and they will try to continue that dominance tonight as the squads resume a four-game set at Angel Stadium.

Following last night's 3-2 result, the Angels are now 9-2 versus Seattle this season, including seven straight victories in the series.

Jered Weaver pitched seven innings of two-run ball, as the Angels held off the Mariners for the 3-2 victory in the second test of a four-game series.

Weaver (9-5), who gave up six hits, snapped a two-start skid. The right-hander fanned five batters and walked zero to improve to 10-3 in 17 career starts versus Seattle.

"Me and Felix (Hernandez) had some good battles," Weaver said. "I am glad we got the win tonight. Our guys put some good at-bats against Felix and scored three runs."

Kevin Frandsen and Bobby Abreu each had an RBI for the Angels, who won 8-3 in the opener of this series on Thursday. Los Angeles remains 4 1/2 games back of Texas for the top spot in the AL West.

Justin Smoak hit a two-run homer for Seattle, which has lost three in a row and 11 of 13 overall. It was Smoak's first homer in a Mariners uniform after he was acquired from Texas as part of the Cliff Lee deal.

Felix Hernandez (7-6) allowed three runs on 10 hits in an eight-inning start. The right-hander also struck out three and walked zero in his first loss since June 8 against the Rangers. It was his fourth complete game in his last six starts.

"I thought Felix pitched great," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Early he got hurt with his fastball, but he settled down after the third inning. It's a shame we couldn't get him some more runs."

The Mariners will surely need a lot of run support for tonight, as Ryan Rowland-Smith toes the rubber. The left-hander has just one win in 16 starts and he is 0-5 with a 7.38 ERA in nine road appearances this season. In his last appearance on Sunday, Rowland-Smith lasted only four innings, allowing six runs - four earned - and six hits in an 8-2 loss to the New York Yankees.

Despite boasting a 2.84 ERA, Rowland-Smith is 0-2 in four career starts against the Angels. He last faced them on June 5th, when he gave up just one earned run over five innings. He did not factor in the decision, an 11-2 home loss.

Joe Saunders gets the call for Angels and he will try to continue his mastery of Seattle. In 13 career starts versus the Mariners, Saunders is 8-1 with a 3.58 ERA. He has faced them three times this season, going 1-0 but with just a 5.06 ERA.

The left-hander, though, has had some struggles of late and is just 1-3 with a 5.90 ERA over his previous five overall appearances. He last started on July 7th, when he gave up five earned runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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