Capuano picks up win as Brewers down Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer and Chris Capuano picked up his first win in over three years, as the Milwaukee Brewers earned a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park.

Prince Fielder also homered for Milwaukee, which has won six of its last eight overall despite being held to only three hits. The Brewers have now won five straight against the Pirates.

Capuano (1-1), who returned to the mound on June 3 after undergoing dual Tommy John surgeries, hadn't won a game since May 7, 2007. In this one, the left- hander allowed one run on three hits, walked one and struck out four in throwing only 65 pitches over five innings. John Axford threw a scoreless ninth to register his 12th save of the season.

Ronny Cedeno had a pair of hits, including a run-scoring triple for the Pirates, who had taken two of three games versus Houston over the weekend. Pittsburgh has dropped eight of its last 10.

Jeff Karstens (2-5) was saddled with the loss despite throwing six solid innings. The righty allowed three runs on as many hits, struck out six and did not issue a walk.

Pittsburgh appeared to have something going in the bottom of the ninth, trailing 3-1. Axford came on and gave up a leadoff single to Garrett Jones, then walked Pedro Alvarez. However, the right-hander struck out the next two batters before retiring Cedeno on a groundout to second that sealed the win.

Karstens pitched two perfect innings before rain halted play for 50 minutes prior to the bottom of the second. When play continued the Pirates right- hander picked up where he left off by retiring the next six batters before Fielder broke the string with a homer to left leading off the fifth.

Alvarez drew a leadoff walk in the home half and crossed the plate on Cedeno's two-out triple to center that evened things. Karstens lined out to third to end the inning.

Milwaukee then regained the lead in the sixth. Carlos Gomez reached with a one-out, pinch-hit bunt single and Weeks followed by crushing a fastball into the left-field seats for a 3-1 game.

Pittsburgh stranded a pair of runners in the seventh and Kameron Loe, who retired the final batter in the inning, set the Pirates down in order in the eighth.

Game Notes

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen sat out the game after suffering a right shoulder injury in Sunday's win versus Houston and is listed as day-to- day...Karstens fell to 0-3 in nine career games -- six starts -- against Milwaukee...Pittsburgh finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.

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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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