Bonds goes 0-for-2; Lincecum, leads Giants past Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Bonds went 0-for-2, failing to move any closer to Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, but his teammates provided enough offense to power San Francisco past the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-0, in the second of a three-game series at Miller Park.

Commissioner Bud Selig was in attendance, with Bonds sitting two home runs shy of Aaron's mark of 755. Selig plans to be there for the third game of the series as the home run chase goes through his home town.

Not only is Milwaukee the home of Selig, but also where Aaron played from 1954-65 with the Braves and then in 1975-76 with the Brewers. On this date back in 1976, Aaron hit historic home run No. 755 right here in Milwaukee.

Pedro Feliz homered for the Giants, who have won three of their last five games. Ray Durham went 2-for-5 with three RBI in the win. Tim Lincecum (5-2), who posted back-to-back wins on July 1 and 7, extended his stretch of impressive outings by tossing a four-hitter with eight strikeouts and a walk over eight innings, retiring the first 11 batters he faced.

Craig Counsell went 1-for-3 for the Brewers, who have lost three of four. Dave Bush (8-8) allowed three runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over six innings, while avoiding becoming the 444th pitcher to allow a Bonds homer.

San Francisco scored a run in the second, as Ryan Klesko grounded a lead-off single, Bengie Molina doubled him over to third, and he came home on Feliz's single.

The Giants plated a pair of runs in the fourth. Klesko walked and then stole second, and Feliz blasted a two-run shot to right-center field on a 3-0 pitch rather than seek the walk.

San Francisco turned it into a rout with a five-run ninth off reliever Chris Spurling, who got reinstated from the bereavement list prior to the game. Feliz singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by J.J. Hardy. Omar Vizquel and Lincecum both walked to load the bases for Dave Roberts and then Randy Winn, both of whom singled in a run before Derrick Turnbow replaced Spurling on the mound. Durham lined a bases-clearing double before Fred Lewis grounded out and Klesko struck out swinging.

Game Notes

There was a chance that Bonds would not be in the starting lineup due to Saturday's 3:55 p.m. (et) start time. The two teams squared off in a night contest Friday and Bonds recently sat out the first three games of a four-game set with the Cubs to rest his legs...Johnny Estrada got hit on the right arm by a pitch in the ninth and left the game...Vizquel appeared in his 2,512th game at shortstop, surpassing Ozzie Smith for second place on the all-time list behind Venezuelan countryman Luis Aparicio...Milwaukee optioned outfielder Gabe Gross to Triple-A Nashville prior to the game...The Brewers had won seven straight -- all at home -- versus the Giants until Friday's loss. That included a three-game sweep this year in Milwaukee from June 18-20.

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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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