Soriano's two-run homer lifts Cubs over Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

04/11/2009 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs held on to edge the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5, in the second of a three-game series at Miller Park.

Soriano finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Kosuke Fukudome had a solo homer, double and two RBI for the Cubs, who dropped a 6-5 decision in the series opener. Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot in the win.

Carlos Zambrano started and pitched to a no-decision for the Cubs. The big right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and three walks over six innings. Aaron Heilman (1-0) earned the win after going 1 2/3 innings without giving up a run and striking out three. Carlos Marmol notched his first save of the year.

Prince Fielder hit a two-run homer and J.J. Hardy knocked in a pair for Milwaukee, which lost three of four to start the season.

Dave Bush started and went 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Carlos Villanueva (1-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs on as many hits in the ninth inning.

With the game deadlocked at 3-3 after 6 1/2 innings, Milwaukee put two on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Angel Guzman started the inning for the Cubs and retired the first batter before issuing back-to-back walks to Corey Hart and Ryan Braun. Neal Cotts replaced Guzman and the lefty promptly issued a free pass to Fielder before being lifted for Heilman.

Hardy then stepped in and laced a two RBI single up the middle, putting the Brewers in front 5-3. Mike Cameron followed by striking out and in the process, Fielder got tagged out while trying to advance to third when the ball got away from Cubs catcher Koyie Hill.

Ramirez's solo homer to left in the eighth got the Cubs to within a run. Then in the ninth pinch hitter Reed Johnson reached on a one-out single and Soriano jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Joey Gathright and hammered it over the left-field wall to put the Cubs in front 6-5.

In the bottom of the ninth, Marmol came on and gave up a one-out base hit to Hart, but recovered to strikeout Braun and Fielder to end the game.

Fielder gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the third when the burly slugger belted a 1-2 fastball over the right-field fence, scoring Hart, who singled.

Fukudome's solo blast in the top of the fourth got the Cubs to within a run, but Milwaukee regained a two-run lead in the home half when Rickie Weeks' RBI single brought home Bill Hall.

The Cubs made it a 3-2 game in the top of the sixth when Fukudome hit a double down the right-field line that plated Soriano, who led off the frame with a two-base hit.

Chicago knotted things in the top of the seventh on Soriano's run-scoring fielders' choice.

Game Notes

Chicago won nine of its 16 meetings with the Brewers last season, including five of the seven matchups held in Milwaukee.

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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.

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

Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.