Chavez homers in 11th; Ellis hits for cycle as A's drop Red Sox

Baseball Betting Lines

06/05/2007 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Chavez belted the winning homer in the bottom of the 11th inning and Mark Ellis hit for the cycle, as Oakland beat Boston, 5-4, in the opener of a four-game series.

With two outs and nobody on base, Chavez smashed a 1-1 offering from Kyle Snyder over the wall in right field, ending a game that was filled with drama.

"I got a pitch in and was fortunate enough to make good contact," Chavez said.

Ellis, who drove in three runs, got the 17th cycle in A's history going back to 1901. It's also the first time a player hit for the cycle against the Red Sox since Cleveland's Andre Thornton turned the trick on April 22, 1978. Ellis also became the second player to hit for the cycle in Oakland, with Chavez being the previous one, June 21, 2000 against Baltimore.

"I didn't even realize it until after the game," Ellis said. "Someone told me Chavy got one here too. That's pretty cool that it's just us two here. There's a lot of tradition here. A lot of good players."

The Athletics won for the third straight time and in the process gave Santiago Casilla (1-0) his first major league win, as he threw one inning.

Dan Haren pitched into the eighth inning, but was denied winning his seventh straight decision. Haren, who hasn't lost in his last 11 outings, dating back to his last defeat April 7, gave up four hits and two runs, walking one and striking out nine. He retired 14 batters at one point and has an AL-best 1.70 ERA this season.

"(Haren) is a dominant pitcher and yet we had a chance to win that game," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We did a lot of good things, but not enough of them."

David Ortiz and Wily Mo Pena homered off Haren, and Ortiz may have hit the go- ahead double in the 10th inning, but Dustin Pedroia was cut down at the plate to end the inning. Ortiz ended with three hits.

Julian Tavarez gave up nine hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings in the start for Boston, which has lost four of its last five games.

It also marked the ending to a pair of marathon games for the Red Sox, who played 4 hours and 4 minutes in a loss at home to the Yankees Sunday night. They then flew cross-country to play a game that lasted 15 minutes shy of four hours.

Down by two runs, Boston rallied to tie it 4-4 in the ninth against former Red Sox Alan Embree. Ortiz doubled, and went to third when Kevin Youkilis grounded out for the second out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Jason Varitek dunked a single into right field, and Pena followed by singling to right-center field. Pinch-runner Coco Crisp scored on the deep hit.

The A's loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, but J.C. Romero amazingly escaped the jam. striking out Chavez and getting Bobby Crosby to bounce into a double play.

The Red Sox were on their way to taking the lead in the 10th, but Mark Kotsay started a play that cut down Pedroia at the plate. Pedroia singled with one out, and with two down Ortiz hit a bullet off the center field wall. Kotsay barehanded the ball off the wall, threw a strike to relay man Crosby, who in turn threw home to get Pedroia at the plate, as Jason Kendall applied the high tag.

Ellis became the sixth Oakland player to hit for the cycle when he looped a base hit to center field with one out in the Oakland 10th. Pinch-hitter Jack Cust followed with a walk, but Snyder (1-1) came in to put out the fire. He retired Shannon Stewart on a grounder back to the mound, putting runners at second and third. Travis Buck then hit a ball to first, and Snyder barely raced to the base covering to end the inning.

Ortiz homered to right field in the first, but Ellis tripled to right-center field, scoring Crosby and Kotsay in the second. Ellis led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer to left for a 3-1 margin.

Pena homered to left-center field with two outs in the seventh to get the Red Sox within a run, but the A's got another run in the eighth. Joel Pineiro walked Chavez and Kotsay. With one out, Ellis hit a ground ball to Youkilis at third base. Youkilis' throw to second was wide and the play was scored a fielder's choice and error, loading the bases. Kendall followed with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Game Notes

This was Haren's 100th career start and he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his 13 starts this year...Crisp didn't start the game due to an upset stomach...Ellis' cycle is the first for the A's since Eric Byrnes did it at San Francisco on June 29, 2003...Pedroia has a 14-game hitting streak...The A's have won six of the last seven meetings.

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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.

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