Mariners hold off A's

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Oakland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ichiro Suzuki registered two more hits in his quest for his 10th consecutive 200-hit season and drove in a run, as Seattle held off Oakland, 7-5, hampering the Athletics in their attempt to gain ground in the AL West.

Adam Moore homered and knocked in two runs for the Mariners, who also received two RBI from Casey Kotchman. Seattle snapped a six-game skid in Oakland.

Doug Fister (5-11) pitched five innings and broke a three-start losing streak. He allowed five hits, two runs, walked four and fanned the same number of batters.

Suzuki currently has 181 hits. With 19 more hits he would break the American League record for 200-hit seasons in a career (currently tied with Ty Cobb) and tie the major league record held by Pete Rose.

Dallas Braden (9-11) was pounded for nine hits and six runs over five frames for the A's, who had won three of their last four contests. They had a chance to gain ground on Texas in the AL West after the Rangers lost in Toronto earlier Tuesday. The A's, though, remained seven games out of first place.

Facing a five-run deficit, the A's brought the potential winning run in the plate in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp singled in a pair of runs with two outs in the ninth off Brandon League. Jeremy Hermida then singled to right field. League threw a wild pitch while walking Steve Tolleson, allowing Crisp to come home. David Aardsma was summoned from the bullpen and retired Cliff Pennington on a lazy fly ball to left field. Aardsma earned his 29th save.

The Mariners struck for five runs in the second inning. Franklin Gutierrez walked and Jose Lopez singled to set up Kotchman's RBI base hit to left. Lopez went to third on Pennington's throwing error, and Moore followed with a sacrifice fly.

Then came five straight base hits. After Matt Tuiasosopo singled, Jose Wilson and Suzuki each drove in a run with hits. Chone Figgins reached base and Russell Branyan completed the uprising with an RBI base hit to right field.

Moore homered to left-center with one gone in the third for a 6-0 lead.

Kurt Suzuki singled in a pair in the Oakland fifth, but the A's wasted a bases-loaded chance in the sixth when Suzuki grounded out.

Kotchman's sacrifice fly plated Michael Saunders in the seventh.

Game Notes

Fister moved to 4-1 lifetime against the A's...Oakland first baseman Daric Barton has reached base via hit or walk in 22 of his last 23 games...The A's lead the season series 8-6...Oakland left 13 men on base.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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