Cabrera, Infante hit back-to-back HRs as Braves top Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera and Omar Infante clubbed back- to-back home runs with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets, 4-2, in the opener of a critical three- game series at Citi Field.

With the score even at two, Cabrera hit the first pitch he saw from Mets starter R.A. Dickey (6-2) over the right-field wall. The right-hander's first pitch to Infante was in there for a called strike, but the next offering wound up bouncing off the top of the towering wall in left field.

Atlanta reliever Takashi Saito escaped a jam in the eighth and Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save of the season.

Infante finished with four hits for the National League East-leading Braves, who are four games ahead of the second-place Mets.

The Braves picked up a run in the first when New York shortstop Jose Reyes failed to turn a routine force play that would have ended the inning. Cabrera and Infante hit consecutive one-out singles. After a Brian McCann fly out left men on the corners, Troy Glaus hit a grounder that Reyes mishandled, producing the game's first run.

New York tied the game in the third. Dickey led off with a single, then the speedy Angel Pagan reached on a bunt base hit. Dickey advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Reyes and came home on a David Wright sac fly to the warning track in right.

The clubs traded runs in the fifth inning. Infante stroked a two-out single and McCann drew a walk before Glaus singled to right-center, driving in Infante with the go-ahead run. McCann was thrown out by Jeff Francoeur trying to advance to third.

The knuckleballer started a rally with a one-out single in the bottom of the frame, taking second base on a wild pitch. Atlanta starter Tommy Hanson struck out Pagan, but Reyes hit a line drive over left fielder Eric Hinske's head for an RBI double, knotting the game at two.

An opportunity to seize the lead was squandered by the Mets in the sixth. Atlanta shortstop Yunel Escobar let an Ike Davis pop-up fall for a leadoff double. Jason Bay walked and Josh Thole dropped down a bunt, but Davis was erased on the play. After Francoeur grounded out, putting runners on second and third, Eric O'Flaherty (3-1) replaced Hanson and induced a 4-3 groundout from pinch-hitter Jesus Feliciano to end the threat.

Saito threw two wild pitches in the eighth inning, allowing Davis to take third with two outs. Thole walked, but Francoeur lined out to finish the inning.

Game Notes

Infante recorded his second four-hit game of the season...Dickey had allowed just two home runs all year...Hanson and Dickey both had six strikeouts...Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones was a late scratch because of back spasms...The Mets optioned right-handed reliever Ryota Igarashi to St. Lucie of the Florida State League and recalled infielder/outfielder Nick Evans from Double-A Binghamton.

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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.