Beckett returns for BoSox in Seattle

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox could use a boost on their current road trip and will get just that tonight when the ballclub is expected to activate ace Josh Beckett from the disabled list.

Beckett hasn't pitched since May 18 at Yankee Stadium because of a nagging lower back injury and will make his ninth start of the season in the second portion of a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners. With plenty of rest and a few rehab assignments for Triple-A Pawtucket, the Red Sox feel Beckett is ready to face major league hitters.

The right-hander and 2003 World Series MVP is 1-1 with a 7.29 earned run average this season and did not figure into the decision of a 7-6 win over New York back in mid-May. Beckett was bothered by his back and lasted just 4 2/3 frames, allowing five runs -- three earned -- and five hits. In four road starts this season, Beckett is 1-0 and the Red Sox are 3-1 in those games.

In five career starts against Seattle, Beckett is 4-1 with a 3.15 earned run average. Beckett, signed to a $68 million extension in April, previously faced the Mariners in a 5-3 win at Safeco Field on May 16, 2009, when he gave up three runs, two earned, and four hits in seven innings.

Boston just hopes Beckett can come out of this game healthy and pitch the club back into the playoff race. John Lackey came within four outs of a no-hitter in last night's 8-6 win in 13 innings at Safeco Field and allowed one unearned run on two hits with six strikeouts in eight frames. Manny Delcarmen blew the lead in the ninth by allowing four runs -- three earned -- and two hits.

The Mariners rallied to tie the score at 6-6 with five runs in the ninth, but Eric Patterson stroked a two-run double in the top of the 13th to put the Red Sox ahead for good. Bill Hall and J.D. Drew both hit two-run homers and Marco Scutaro belted a solo shot for the Red Sox, who won for the third time in eight contests and is 2-2 on a 10-game road trip.

"Sometimes the game will do it to you," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "You're up, you're down. You try not to get that way because if you do, as frustrating as the ninth was, you end up losing. We can't do that. We've got to find a way to win and we did."

Kevin Youkilis finished with three hits in the win and scored the go-ahead run in the 13th inning. Boston will also visit the LA Angels of Anaheim on the trek and is seven games behind the New York Yankees for the AL East lead. It is four games behind Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings.

Seattle had a ninth inning to remember last night, plating five runs to knot the score at six apiece. Franklin Gutierrez started the rally with a two-run homer and later Casey Kotchman doubled home Jose Lopez. After Jack Wilson grounded into a fielder's choice to plate Milton Bradley, Ryan Langerhans, who was pinch running for Kotchman, scored the tying run on Hall's throwing error.

Boston reliever Ramon Ramirez posted his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth in the bottom of the 13th inning. Ryan Rowland-Smith started for Seattle and was reached for five runs and eight hits in six innings, while Garrett Olson suffered the loss for allowing two runs over two innings of work.

"I am awfully proud of the way we battled," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said on the team's website. "We came off a walk-off [Wednesday night against the White Sox], and to be in a situation to do it back-to-back nights doesn't happen very often. To let it go is heartbreaking."

The Mariners, who are 4-15 this month, will turn to Jason Vargas tonight and he is 0-2 with a 4.13 earned run average in his last four starts. Vargas hasn't posted a decision in consecutive trips to the hill and last pitched in Sunday's 2-1 road win against the LA Angels of Anaheim.

Vargas had an excellent day on the mound, as he held the Halos to a run and four hits with nine K's over 7 2/3 innings. He has allowed just one run in each of his last two starts, throwing at seven innings in each appearance.

The left-hander, who is 5-1 in 10 home starts, will face Boston for the first time this season and second time in his career. In a 3-2 win over the Red Sox on May 17 last season, Vargas did not figure into the decision after giving up two runs -- one earned -- on seven hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings.

The Red Sox and Mariners are meeting for the first time since Seattle won four of six matchups a year ago. Boston, however, is 8-4 in the past 12 contests in this series.

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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.