Black takes new deal into Padres/Braves series

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Under Bud Black, the Padres have become one of the biggest successful surprises in 2010. The San Diego manager is now reaping the rewards of that achievement.

The Padres take the field for the first time since Black was given a three- year contract extension as they visit another surprise at the top of the standings, the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves, for the first of three straight games at Turner Field.

The Padres hold the NL's top record at 54-37, just ahead of the Braves' 54-38 mark, and on Monday their manager was given a new deal that also includes club options for 2014 and 2015. San Diego is 281-297 in three-plus seasons since Black was hired in November of 2006.

"This news comes at a time when the team is playing well, but my faith in Bud goes far beyond wins and losses," said general manager Jed Hoyer, who also called the extension for Black well deserved. "He and his staff are exceptionally well prepared, he embraces the challenge of teaching young players and, most importantly, the players compete for him every night."

Black's club has relied heavily on its pitching this year in its run to the top of the NL West, leading the majors with a collective 3.25 earned run average, but has plated 35 runs over a four-game win streak, San Diego's longest since also winning four in a row from May 22-26.

The Padres opened the second half with a three-game sweep of their division's last-place club, the Diamondbacks, taking Sunday's finale by a 6-4 margin. Chris Denorfia matched a career high with four hits, homering twice for the first time in his career to double his season total, as the Padres pounded out 14 hits to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

Tony Gwynn Jr. added a pair of hits, two walks and two stolen bases and Kevin Correia got the win after allowing three runs over six innings, striking out a season-high nine batters for San Diego, which leads the NL West by four games over the Giants.

The Padres figure to face a stiffer challenge tonight in the Braves, who lead the NL East by 5 1/2 games over the Mets but had lost three of four prior to Sunday's 11-6 triumph over the Brewers. Brian McCann hit the sixth grand slam of his career and drove in a season-high five runs as Atlanta split its four- game series.

"Anytime you get the bases loaded you want to get a big hit with less than two outs. I was lucky enough to get an 0-2 pitch that I know the pitcher didn't want to put it there, but I capitalized on it," McCann said. "Everybody hit today, it was a great team effort. Everybody worked the count, took what the pitcher gave us and were able to score some runs."

Matt Diaz also homered and drove in three runs, while Omar Infante had four hits, two RBI and scored twice. Winning pitcher Derek Lowe yielded three runs over 5 1/3 innings of work as Atlanta was without third baseman Chipper Jones for a second game in a row due to a left hamstring strain.

Atlanta might not need Jones again tonight given how Jair Jurrjens has pitched in three games since returning from a two-month stint on the disabled list. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA since coming back and he beat Milwaukee on Thursday after giving up just a run on six hits and two walks over 6 2/3 innings of a 2-1 triumph.

Jurrjens is 2-3 with a 4.75 ERA in eight starts and has been tough to handle this year at Turner Field, where he is 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA in four starts.

One of Jurrjens' outings before his injury came in San Diego on April 12 and he was drilled for eight runs over just 3 1/3 innings of a 17-2 setback, falling to 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA in three career starts versus the Padres.

Jurrjens will try to deal the Padres their first loss since Wade LeBlanc's last outing on July 10, when he gave up four runs on nine hits, including three homers, over 5 2/3 innings of a setback to the Rockies.

The 25-year-old lefty, who faces the Braves for the first time in his career this evening, fell to 4-7 on the season with a 3.30 ERA.

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox won't be calling the shots tonight after getting suspended for a game on Monday. Cox and reliever Jonny Venters were both ejected on Saturday after Venters hit Milwaukee's Prince Fielder with a pitch in the eighth inning after warnings had already been issued to both benches. Venters was suspended for four games by major league baseball and given an undisclosed fine.

The Braves took two of three from the Padres in San Diego from April 12-15 and have won seven of the last nine played at Turner Field in the series.

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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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