Four-run 11th gets White Sox past Indians

Baseball Betting Lines

08/30/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brent Lillibridge hit the tie-breaking home run in a four-run top of the 11th as Chicago coughed up a late lead only to come back to beat Cleveland, 10-6, to begin a three-game series.

Lillibridge, filling in for the injured Gordon Beckham, who left the game in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch on the right hand, lofted his long ball just over the high wall in left field to help the White Sox move to within four games of idle Minnesota in the AL Central.

Alex Rios went 5-for-6 with a homer and four RBI and missed hitting for the cycle by a triple while Paul Konerko went 2-for-4 with three RBI and three walks for Chicago, which won for just a third time in its last nine road contests.

Scott Linebrink (2-1) earned the win with two scoreless relief innings.

Rafael Perez (4-1) took the loss after allowing the decisive runs on four hits and a walk in less than a full inning of work for the Tribe, who dropped a second straight after a three-game win streak.

The southpaw retired the first two hitters in the 11th before Lillibridge poked his first home run since June 9 to put the visitors ahead to stay.

Juan Pierre walked and scored when Omar Vizquel doubled to right. The veteran infielder then stole third and crossed the plate when Rios doubled to center to match a career-best with his fifth hit of the night. Konerko then singled to center to score Rios to push the lead to four and knock Perez out of the game.

The hosts rallied for three runs off closer Bobby Jenks, who suffered his fourth blown save, to tie the game in the home ninth.

Shin-Soo Choo walked to start the inning, moved up on defensive indifference and scored when Shelley Duncan looped a single to left to make it 6-4. Travis Hafner then sliced his third double of the night to left to push Duncan to third base. Luis Valbuena, who replaced Laynce Nix after his seventh inning ejection for arguing balls and strikes, chopped a grounder to second base that Lillibridge barehanded and threw wildly past first as both runners scored to tie the game.

Valbuena also advanced to second then moved to third on a ground out by Jason Donald but was stranded when pinch-hitter Trevor Crowe bounced out to end the frame.

Chris Perez worked out of two jams in the tenth by getting Rios to ground into a double play with runners at first and second and nobody out and A.J. Pierzynski to fly out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Cleveland trailed 5-0 but got back in the game in the home fourth when Hafner doubled and scored when Nix followed with a home run to left.

The Indians crept within two in the fifth when Asdrubal Cabrera led off with an infield hit, moved to second on a one-out single by Duncan and scored on Hafner's second two-base hit of the game. The Indians had the sacks full with two outs but Donald fanned to end the frame.

Indians starter Mitch Talbot was roughed up for five runs on 10 hits and three walks while striking out two and was followed to the hill by Justin Germano, who retired the first two batters in the sixth before Rios crushed a solo home run to left-center to extend the visitors' lead to 6-3. It was the first earned run allowed by the right-hander in 17 1/3 innings this season since his return to the big leagues on July 30.

Vizquel and Rios put together consecutive one-out singles in the first in front of Konerko, who doubled to drive in both runners.

Two singles and a walk with two outs loaded the bases for the Tribe in the bottom of the frame but Sox starter Mark Buehrle worked out of trouble by getting Nix to foul out.

Alexei Ramirez singled to start the second and scored when Mark Kotsay doubled down the right-field line. Beckham followed with a single to get Kotsay to third before Pierre was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

After Vizquel fouled out, Rios looped a two-run single to right to push the lead to 5-0.

Buerhle lasted six innings during which he allowed three runs on eight hits and a trio of walks along with five strikeouts.

Game Notes

The White Sox were awarded outfielder Manny Ramirez from the Los Angeles Dodgers on a waiver claim Monday and he is expected to join the team Tuesday. Beckham left the game in the seventh inning after getting hit in the right hand by a Frank Herrmann pitch...Konerko played in his 1,743rd game for the White Sox to tie his manager Guillen for fifth place on the franchise's all- time list...He has hit safely in 11 straight...Vizquel went 2-for-6 and has 820 career hits at Progressive Field, the most of any player...Rios had his third career five-hit game...Talbot had won each of his first three turns over Chicago this season...Indians' first baseman Matt LaPorta sat out the game with a strained left hip that he re-injured while batting in the fourth inning of Sunday's game...He had surgery on the same hip in October...Cleveland has lost 15 of its last 22 home games.

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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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