Athletics put OF Sweeney on DL

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics placed outfielder Ryan Sweeney on the 15-day disabled list with right patella tendinitis on Monday.

The move is retroactive to July 12.

The 25-year-old is hitting a team-best .294 with one homer and 36 runs batted in over 82 games this season. In 364 career games with the Chicago White Sox and Oakland, Sweeney is a .286 hitter with 13 home runs and 144 RBI.

In a related move, the Athletics recalled pitcher Henry Rodriguez from Triple- A Sacramento. The right-hander is making his fourth stint with the big club this season and has pitched to a 3.86 earned run average without a decision in seven relief outings.

Wwwchipshot Baseball Betting News

<< Bulls officially sign Brewer
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls announced the signing of free agent guard Ronnie Brewer on Monday. Terms of the contract were not released, but it was earlier reported to be for three years and $12.5 million. The Bu

<< Jazz sign Bell
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz have signed guard Raja Bell to a reported three-year contract worth $10 million. This will be Bell's second stint with Utah after spending two seasons from 2003-05 with the club. He

<< Dushevina moves on in Slovenia
Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Russian Vera Dushevina was a first-round winner Monday at the Slovenia Open. Dushevina dropped the first set but rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow countrywoman Anna Lapushch

<< Edwards, Keselowski feud showing no signs of letting up
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - "Boom boom boom, now. Boom boom boom, now. Boom boom pow." I generally don't like using song lyrics to describe a frantic episode in a NASCAR race or any other motorsports event, but after last Saturday's night

<< Report: Johnson, Titans come to contract agreement
Culver City, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL Network is reporting that running back Chris Johnson and the Tennessee Titans have agreed to a deal that will pay him slightly more than $2 million during the 2010 season. According to T

UConn AD Hathaway to serve as Division I men's basketball chair >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced on Monday that Jeff Hathaway, director of athletics at the University of Connecticut, has been appointed chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for the 2011-12 academi

Bucks sign PG Dooling >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks signed free agent point guard Keyon Dooling on Monday. Dooling is said to have inked a two-year deal and will slide in as the backup to Brandon Jennings after former Buck Luke Ridnour

Spieth shares lead at Junior Amateur >>
Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot a five-under 67 on Monday to share the first-round lead at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Stephen Behr and Davis Womble also posted rounds of 67, while Wyndh

Reds 3B Rolen remains sidelined >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen missed his third straight game Monday due to a right hamstring injury. Rolen received a cortisone shot in his hamstring and could go on the disabled list in the

Report: Childress visits Favre in Hattiesburg >>
Hattiesburg, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress reportedly met with Brett Favre on Monday as he tries to gauge if the star quarterback will return for a 20th season in the NFL. WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg repo

Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.


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.