Latos returns from DL to face Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos returns from a short stint on the disabled list this evening when the San Diego Padres continue their three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Latos, who had been sidelined with a strained left oblique brought on by a sneeze, won his final five decisions before the All-Star break and is 10-4 on the year with a 2.45 earned run average.

Over his last four starts Latos has allowed just one run and has not surrendered one in his last two outings, spanning 15 innings. He has also allowed two runs or less in 12 of his last 13 starts.

This will be his first-ever start against the Pirates, who will pin their hopes on righty Jeff Karstens. Winless in his last three decisions, Karstens was done in by the longball in his last outing on Monday against Milwaukee. Karstens, a San Diego native, surrendered three runs on three hits - a solo home run, then a two-run shot - in six innings to fall to 2-5 on the year to go along with a 4.84 ERA.

Like Latos, Karstens will be making his first start against his opponent tonight, but he has faced the Padres twice out of the bullpen, going 0-1 after yielding five runs and three hits in 2 1/3 innings of work.

San Diego continued to thrive in the Steel City in the opener of this set on Friday, as Adrian Gonzalez capped a four-run second inning with a sacrifice fly, helping the Padres to a 5-3 victory.

Gonzalez is just 1-for-13 in his last four games, but has driven in 19 runs in his last 17 games against the Pirates.

Chris Denorfia stroked an RBI double for the Padres, who are 21-9 at Pittsburgh since the start of the 2001 season. Kevin Correia (7-6) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits and three walks in six innings to record his first road win since April 28. He also had a run-scoring single.

"It wasn't great, but I made good pitches in the situations I needed to," Correia said.

San Diego is now an NL-best 26-20 away from home this season.

Lastings Milledge contributed a two-run single for the Pirates, while Paul Maholm (6-8), coming off a three-hit shutout against Houston in his last start, was tagged for four runs and nine hits over six full frames.

"I tried to keep us in the game," Maholm said. "I still felt like I could go out there and throw pitches where I wanted to."

Cbssporstline Baseball Betting News

<< Tigers, Blue Jays try again in Detroit
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miguel Cabrera's primary goal is to help the Detroit Tigers capture an American League Central title. Still, one would think the possibility of becoming baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 43 years has got to cross the Al

<< Pelfrey hopes for a rebound in LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Pelfrey hopes to bounce back from the shortest start of his career this evening when the New York Mets continue their four-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Pelfrey could not make it out of the

<< Phils take their swings against Jimenez
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than 24 hours after facing a former Cy Young Award winner, the Colorado Rockies march out their own 2010 candidate when they face the Philadelphia Phillies in the second of four games at Citizens Bank Park. The Philli

<< White Sox try to stay hot in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Detroit and Minnesota nipping at their heels the Chicago White Sox will try to keep their small lead in the AL Central when they take on the Oakland Athletics this afternoon at the Coliseum. One of the biggest reasons

<< Gorzelanny shoots for fourth straight win in middle tilt with Cards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Gorzelanny goes after his fourth straight win this afternoon when the Chicago Cubs play the middle test of their three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Gorzelanny, who is 5-5 with a 3.12

Rays eye first win in Cleveland in nearly five years >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay has had a hard time winning in Cleveland. Hopefully its ace can turn things around, as the Rays send David Price to the mound this evening trying to stop the Cleveland Indians' incredible 18-game home winning streak

Marlins attempt to go over. 500 against Braves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins try to go above .500 for the first time since early June this evening when they continue their three-game set with the Atlanta Braves at Sun Life Stadium. Florida won in dramatic fashion on Friday, as

Bumgarner takes aim at fourth straight win at Chase Field >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Madison Bumgarner shoots for his fourth straight win this evening when the San Francisco Giants continue their four-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Bumgarner has been sensational over his winning

Oswalt toes the hill for Astros against Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran right-hander Rot Oswalt makes what could be one of the last starts of his Houston career tonight when the Astros meet the Cincinnati Reds in the middle test of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park. Oswalt, a Hou

Twins send Baker to hill in Baltimore >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Struggling to keep pace with the White Sox and Tigers in the AL Central, the Twins will try to solve their road woes when Minnesota battles the Baltimore Orioles in the third installment of a four-game set this evening at Cam

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.