A's try to pitch their way to sweep of Indians

Baseball Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vin Mazzaro hopes to continue one of the best strings of starting pitching in Oakland Athletics history this evening, when the team goes for a sweep of its three-game series with the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

Athletics starters have allowed three runs or less and have gone at least six innings in each of the last 17 games, the longest such streak in Oakland history. It's the longest such streak by the franchise since the 1927 Philadelphia Athletics did it 18 times in a row.

That trend continued on Wednesday, when Trevor Cahill continued his sensational season by turning in yet another quality start in Oakland's 6-1 win. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a three-run double to punctuate a five-run first inning that helped the A's win for the sixth time in eight games, though they remained 8 1/2 games back of first-place Texas in the American League West. The Rangers beat Minnesota on Wednesday.

Cahill (14-5) went seven innings, allowing seven hits -- which tied a season- high -- and one unearned run with two walks and two strikeouts. In his last six starts, he has a 5-1 record and a 0.77 earned run average.

"He didn't really have the command that he's had lately, but he had real good movement and got a lot of ground balls," A's manager Bob Geren said of Cahill. "Seven innings and one run? That's pretty good."

Asdrubal Cabrera drove in the lone run for the Indians, who have lost five straight. Mitch Talbot (8-11) extended his winless skid to eight starts after allowing six runs, six hits and three walks in six innings.

Mazzaro comes into tonight's matchup winless in his last five starts (0-3) and 6-5 with a 3.56 ERA on the year. He pitched well without getting a decision Friday against Tampa Bay, which reached him for three runs (one earned) and three hits in 6 1/3 frames of a 5-4 A's win.

He beat the Tribe back on July 4 and is 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in two starts versus them.

Cleveland will counter with righty Justin Masterson, who is 4-12 with a 5.33 ERA on the year. Masterson absorbed another loss Friday in Detroit, as he was hammered for five runs and 11 hits in six innings.

Masterson is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in six games (two starts) against the A's. He is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in four starts against AL West opponents this year, including an 11-0 rout at the hands of the A's on April 25 in which he gave up seven runs in four innings.

The A's are 6-2 against Cleveland this season and have won 11 of the past 15 matchups between the two teams.

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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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