Cook leads Rockies into finale at Reds

Baseball Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suburban Cincinnati native Aaron Cook returns home to face a team that's never beaten him today, when the Colorado Rockies head to Great American Ball Park to meet the Reds in the finale of a three-game series.

The hosts have won the initial two games, including Saturday, when Edinson Volquez made a triumphant return to the mound and was backed by four home runs in an 8-1 Reds win.

Volquez (1-0), who last appeared in a major league game on June 1, 2009, struck out nine over six innings, walked two and yielded just three hits.

Two of those came in the first inning when Dexter Fowler doubled and Carlos Gonzalez brought in the only Colorado run with a single.

The 27-year-old Volquez had been out after ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow. It was his first win since May 5, 2009 against the Marlins.

Drew Stubbs smacked two homers and drove in three runs, while Brandon Phillips cracked a three-run shot. Jonny Gomes had two RBI and added a solo home run as Cincinnati won its second straight in this three-game set.

Jorge De La Rosa (3-2) was rocked for a second straight outing coming off a finger injury that shelved him for more than two months.

In 3 1/3 innings, he gave up seven runs - six earned - on four hits and five walks as the Rockies fell for a third consecutive game.

Cook, who was born 31 years ago in nearby Fort Campbell, Ky., is 2-0 with a 5.12 earned run average in eight lifetime meetings with the Reds, including eight starts.

He was drafted by the Rockies out of high school in 1997 - second round - and debuted in the majors five years later with nine appearances at the end of the 2002 season.

He won a career-best 16 games in 2008 and returned to win 11 more a season later, but has struggled through 17 starts this season with just three wins and an ERA that's hovered around 5.00.

Cook was a 7-3 winner over San Francisco in a July 1 game, then was tagged for 10 hits and five runs in a no-decision against Louis on July 7 - a game Colorado won, 8-7.

The Rockies are 8-9 in his 17 starts, though the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is winless - 0-5, 6.70 ERA - in nine road starts.

Cincinnati counters with lefty Travis Wood, a former second-round draft pick in 2005. He seeks his first big-league win in his fourth start.

The 23-year-old was on the verge of a gem in his most recent outing, carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning against Philadelphia before the Reds eventually lost, 1-0, in extra innings as part of a four-game sweep.

Wood struck out eight Phillies and lowered his opponents' batting average to .127 in his three starts.

Previously, he'd allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 11 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets - games both won by the Reds.

This will be Wood's first appearance in Cincinnati.

Wwzdnet Baseball Betting News


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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.

Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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