Athletics continue road trip against Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics are still searching for a win on their current road trip, as they begin a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs this evening from historic Wrigley Field.

Oakland was swept in three games at San Francisco to kick off the nine-game excursion and fell to 4-9 this month following Sunday's 6-2 loss against the Giants at AT&T Park. Jack Cust had a team-high three hits and both Kevin Kouzmanoff and Landon Powell knocked in a run for the A's, who received a rough outing from starter Vin Mazzaro.

Mazzaro allowed four runs -- three earned -- and six hits through six innings to suffer his first loss of the 2010 campaign (2-1).

"We had too many things go wrong in a three-game series to overcome," said Oakland manager Bob Geren.

Kouzmanoff is riding a 14-game hitting streak in which he owns three homers and 11 RBI. Oakland will also visit St. Louis on the trek and is four games off the lead in the American League West standings.

Trevor Cahill hopes to get the A's back into the win column when he makes his 10th start of the season tonight. Cahill is 4-0 with a 1.91 earned run average over his last five starts and defeated the LA Angels of Anaheim the previous time out on Thursday, as he tossed eight innings of one-run ball.

Cahill, a right-hander, pushed his record to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.91 after it was 4.37 following a loss to the Angels back on May 16. He has never faced the Cubs in his career.

The Cubs will continue a nine-game homestand Tuesday and ended a three-game slide by salvaging the finale of a three-game set versus the crosstown-rival White Sox with a 1-0 win on Sunday behind a stellar performance by Ted Lilly.

Lilly did not allow a hit through eight innings and permitted a leadoff single to Juan Pierre in the ninth inning. Lilly struck out three batters in just his second win of the season and Carlos Marmol posted his 13th save despite walking a pair of hitters in a scoreless ninth inning.

"We're in a situation there where they're going to have a chance to tie it up," Lilly said. "How many times in those situations have we seen where Marmol walks a guy or falls behind in the count and then finds a way?"

Chad Tracy drove in the lone run of the game in the seventh inning for Chicago, which is 7 1/2 games off the lead in the NL Central.

Carlos Zambrano will try to build off his latest winning start when he takes the mound tonight. A recent demotion to the bullpen may have worked for Zambrano, who recently took the hill in a 9-4 win at Milwaukee last Wednesday and yielded three runs in five innings.

Zambrano is 2-4 with a 6.05 earned run average in 19 games -- six starts -- this season and will face Oakland for the second time in his career. The fiery right-hander beat the A's back on June 20, 2004 and held them to a run and five hits with eight K's in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-3 victory.

Chicago won two of three meetings with Oakland from June 18-20 of the 2004 campaign and is 93-100 against the American League. The Athletics own a solid 131-105 ledger in games played against the Senior Circuit.

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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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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

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