Keppinger, Myers lead Astros past Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Keppinger homered and drove in three runs to support 7 2/3 sturdy innings from Brett Myers in Houston's 5-2 win over the Pirates in the opener of a three-game set.

Hunter Pence singled twice, scored two runs and walked, and Jason Bourgeois scored twice and swiped two bases for the Astros, who have won all seven games between the teams this season.

Myers (7-6) allowed two runs on five hits for Houston, which has won five of its last seven games. He walked one and struck out four in extending his franchise record to 19 straight starts of six innings or more to open the season. Matt Lindstrom retired the side in order in the ninth to nail down his 22nd save of the season.

Zach Duke (3-9) suffered the loss in his first start since June 16, yielding a pair of runs on five hits over five frames while fanning five for the Pirates, who have dropped seven straight.

Bourgeois led off the game with an infield single, stole second and third and scored on a Keppinger ground out.

Pence opened the second inning with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out double to right field by Humberto Quintero.

Andrew McCutchen started the home fourth with a double, moved to third on a ground out and came in to score on a Neil Walker sacrifice fly to halve the Houston lead.

Keppinger greeted D.J. Carrasco by belting his first pitch of the sixth just over the wall in left field to restore the Astros' two-run edge. The visitors tacked on another run in the frame when Pence walked, moved up on a Chris Johnson single, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on a squeeze bunt by Angel Sanchez.

The Pirates put runners at first and second with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Andy LaRoche was picked off at second base to end the threat.

Bourgeois used his speed to create another run after he drew a walk with one out in the seventh off Sean Gallagher. He advanced on a balk, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Keppinger's double to center field that made it 5-1 and chased Gallagher.

Javier Lopez came on to retire Lance Berkman to end the inning.

The Pirates pushed across a run in the eighth on a two-out single by McCutchen that scored Lastings Milledge and knocked Myers out of the game.

Jose Tabata then welcomed Brandon Lyon to the contest with an infield single before Walker lined out to end the frame.

Game Notes

Duke was activated from the disabled list during the All-Star break...He had been sidelined by a left elbow flexor pronator strain...Carlos Lee did not start Friday's game for the Astros after missing the team's scheduled workout on Thursday at PNC Park...Myers became the 53rd pitcher since 1920 to begin the season with 19 straight starts of six innings or more. The last Astros pitcher to put together a similar streak was Roy Oswalt, who did it in 20 straight turns from May 11-August 22, 2005...Myers improved to 2-6 in 10 road starts...Pence extended his hitting streak to seven games...Keppinger finished 2-for-4 and has 29 multi-hit games...Pittsburgh has allowed a run in the first inning in six of its last seven games...Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez went 1-for-4 and has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games...Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the first game played at Three Rivers Stadium.

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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.

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