Red Sox blow lead, but top Mariners in 13 innings

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Patterson's two-run double in the 13th inning lifted the Red Sox to a wild 8-6 win over the Seattle Mariners to open a four-game series.

Boston's John Lackey came within four outs of a no-hitter, but the Mariners eventually rallied for five runs in the ninth to force extra innings.

Bill Hall and J.D. Drew each hit two-run homers, while Marco Scutaro added a solo shot as the Red Sox snapped a two-game skid.

Seattle loaded the bases with one out in the 12th inning, but came up empty as Jose Lopez fouled out to first and Milton Bradley popped out to former Mariner Adrian Beltre at third.

Kevin Youkilis led off the 13th with an infield single. Beltre nearly homered in the next at-bat, but yanked the ball barely foul down the left field line. He ended up popping out. Drew flied out to left, but Mike Cameron walked and Patterson doubled to the gap in left-center off Garrett Olson (0-3) to provide the Red Sox with the lead.

"Runner in scoring position, you're just trying to get a base hit, you're not trying to do too much," Patterson said. "(Olson) threw me a couple breaking balls. I was just able to stay on the last one and found some grass in the outfield."

Hideki Okajima (3-2) pitched a pair of innings for the win and Ramon Ramirez recorded his second save.

Franklin Gutierrez, the hero in a 2-1, 11-inning win over the White Sox on Wednesday, belted a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Manny Delcarmen, but the Mariners lost for the seventh time in nine contests.

Ryan Rowland-Smith permitted eight hits and five runs over six innings in the start for the Mariners.

Lackey gave up two hits, an unearned run, walked one and fanned six batters. He retired 16 batters in a row before Josh Bard looped a base hit to right- center field to break up the no-hit bid. Jack Wilson singled to right field, but Ichiro Suzuki lined out to end the inning, keeping Boston up 6-1.

"You think about (the no-hitter) a little bit, you obviously know it's going on, but it's not something that you're really focused on, you just want to win the game." Lackey said. "We won the game, that makes things a lot better for sure, but it's definitely one of the weirdest no-decisions that I've had."

Delcarmen had trouble closing out the game in the ninth, an inning in which the Red Sox committed a pair of errors. Chone Figgins singled to center and Gutierrez homered to left. Lopez walked, and Bradley then grounded a ball up the middle off of Scutaro's glove to put two runners on base.

Jonathan Papelbon entered, but couldn't stop the bleeding. He fanned Justin Smoak, but Casey Kotchman stroked an RBI double down the right field line. Bard walked to load the bases and Wilson grounded a ball up the middle that should have turned into a game-ending double-play. Scutaro flipped to Hall for the out at second, but the throw to first got by Youkilis, allowing two runs to score. Suzuki was intentionally walked, but Figgins was caught looking at a called third strike to send the game into extra innings.

"It comes down to that 12th inning, bases loaded, one out, meat of the order up, and we don't get it done," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "But, to be down facing Delcarmen, Papelbon and to score five runs, that shows a lot of character."

Suzuki crashed into the wall in right field to rob David Ortiz of a home run in the first inning.

Seattle produced a run in the bottom portion. Bradley walked, stole second and went to third on Smoak's groundout. With two down, Bradley scored on a passed ball by Kevin Cash.

Cameron doubled leading off the third and Hall followed with a homer to left field. Scutaro singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and came home on a Ortiz two-out base hit to right.

After hitting Wilson with a pitch to open the third, Lackey retired the ensuing 16 batters. Meanwhile, Boston added to its lead in the sixth as Drew homered to right field with Beltre on base.

Scutaro homered to left off Brian Sweeney with one out in the seventh for a 6-1 margin.

Game Notes

Earlier Thursday, the Mariners traded minor league infielder Jack Hannahan to the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash considerations...Prior to Thursday, the Mariners had never scored five or more runs in the ninth inning to tie or win a game...It was the fourth blown save of the year for Papelbon...Beltre, who signed with the Red Sox in the offseason after spending five years in Seattle, went 1-for-6...Youkilis had three hits.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.