Cahill tosses shutout as A's top Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

08/03/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Cahill threw the first shutout of his career as the Oakland Athletics took a 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals in the first of a three-game set.

Cahill (11-4), who also recorded the first complete game of his career, gave up just three hits and four walks with three strikeouts for the Athletics, who had dropped three of four coming in. Rajai Davis hit a two-run homer in the win.

Wilson Betemit hit a double for the only extra-base hit for the Royals, who were coming off a series win against Baltimore. Brian Bannister (7-11) was tagged for five runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts over five innings.

Oakland jumped on top in the first as Kevin Kouzmanoff's RBI single scored Kurt Suzuki, who worked a one-out walk and moved to second on Jack Cust's walk.

The A's made it a 3-0 game in the fourth as back-to-back singles from Adam Rosales and Davis were followed by a two-run double from Matt Watson.

In the fifth, Cust led off with a single and, three batters later, Davis belted a shot over the left field wall for a 5-0 lead.

Cahill, meanwhile, was cruising through his start as the only hit he gave up through the first six innings was a single to Mitch Maier in the third.

Cahill set the Royals down in order in the seventh, but got into a bit of trouble in the eighth.

Betemit led off with a double and Alex Gordon followed with a walk. Cahill, though, got Maier to fly out and Yuniesky Betancourt to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.

Oakland added a run in the eighth as Coco Crisp's single off the glove of Chris Getz scored Gabe Gross for a 6-0 advantage.

With one out in the ninth, Getz hit a single, but Cahill got pinch-hitter Kila Ka'aihue to hit into a 5-4-3 double play to finish the contest.

Game Notes

Oakland has gotten complete games from its last three starters. It's the first time the team has accomplished that feat since September 8-10, 2000...Oakland has won all four meetings with Kansas City this season...Bannister has dropped his past five starts and is 0-6 over his last seven starts...Cahill improved to 3-0 in four starts against the Royals while Bannister fell to 1-6 over 10 games against the Athletics...Oakland turned five double plays in the game.

Wwdaum Baseball Betting News

<< Hernandez solid as Nats down D'Backs
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Dunn and Ivan Rodriguez each hit solo home runs for Washington, and Livan Hernandez pitched effectively into the eighth inning in a 3-1 victory over Arizona in the opener of a four-game set. Hernandez (

<< Fielder leads Milwaukee hit parade in rout of Cubs
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Prince Fielder recorded his first career five- hit game, drove in five runs and scored twice in Milwaukee's 18-1 drubbing of the Cubs in the first of three meetings at Wrigley Field. The Brewers, who had sc

<< Astros rally late, upend Cardinals
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Keppinger drove in four runs as Houston scored seven times in the final two innings to take a 9-4 win over St. Louis in the opener of a three-game set. Chris Johnson drove in two runs while Hunter Pen

<< Casey Coleman makes it 3 generations in majors
CHICAGO (AP) -Chicago Cubs reliever Casey Coleman made his major league debut on Monday night, making his family the fourth to have three generations play in the big leagues.Coleman, who was called up before the game, entered in the sixth inning. He

<< Indians hold off Red Sox for third straight win
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shelley Duncan went 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored as the Cleveland Indians held off the Boston Red Sox, 6-5, in the opener of a four-game set. Shin-Soo Choo drove in two runs while Jordan Brown score

Safina moves on in California >>
Carlsbad, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russian Dinara Safina was a straight-set winner in first-round play Monday at the $700,000 Mercury Insurance Open. Safina cruised in the first set before prevailing in a tough second set, beating

Indycar >>
Fined Helio Castroneves $60,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the year for his actions during the July 25 race at Edmonton.

Padres dig reeling Dodgers deeper hole in NL West >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Headley and Will Venable each hit a three-run homer, as the San Diego Padres took a 10-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. Headley finished 4-for-5 for the NL We

Report: Modano to join Red Wings >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Modano is reportedly set to sign with the Detroit Red Wings later this week. The Livonia, Michigan native said in a text message to the Detroit Free Press that he will make a "Big announcement" on Thu

Delany: Big Ten expects title game in 2011 >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Delany, commissioner of the Big Ten, expects the new-look conference to hold a football championship game following the 2011 season. The Big Ten was among the many conferences that recently helpe

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.