Series Beats Phillies Of World

Baseball Betting Lines

Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milo Hamilton, who has been the voice of the Houston Astros since 1985, announced on Wednesday that he intends to retire following the upcoming season. Hamilton will close the books on a career which spanned more than 60 years, dating back to his start in Davenport, Iowa in 1950. Prior to arriving in Houston, he presided over broadcasts for the Cardinals, Cubs, White Sox and Pirates.

 

Hamilton, who has mostly called home games since 2006, will continue his involvement with the Astros after their move to the American League in 2013.

 

The 30-year-old Illinois native has spent the last three seasons with the Pirates after appearing in 31 games for Minnesota in 2007. He slugged 21 homers in each of his first two seasons in Pittsburgh and has 60 career home runs with 193 RBI and a .254 batting average.

 

Terms of McGehee's deal were not disclosed, but he had asked for $2.725 million through arbitration and the Pirates had offered $2.35 million.

 

Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox inked pitcher Ross Ohlendorf and first baseman Mauro Gomez to minor league deals with invitations to spring training on Thursday. Ohlendorf went 1-3 with an 8.15 earned run average in nine starts for the Pirates in 2011, a season shortened due to a lengthy stay on the disabled list thanks to a right shoulder posterior strain.

 

Gomez spent all of last season with Atlanta's Triple-A affiliate, hitting .304, clubbing 24 homers, 34 doubles and driving in 90 runs over 135 contests.

 

Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With pitchers and catchers all set to head out to Florida and Arizona, it is apparent Major League Baseball is ready to fill some of the void in the sports world left by the end of the National Football League season. To that end, it is time to talk about the 2012 campaign and which teams are the so-called "best bets" to win the National and American League pennants as well as the World Series.

 

Whatever betting site you visit, the Philadelphia Phillies are the early favorites to win this season's Fall Classic. That is somewhat surprising on one level as manager Charlie Manuel's squad has gone in reverse since winning the 2008 World Series. Don't forget, the Phillies lost to the New York Yankees in the 2009 Series, were eliminated by the San Franciso Giants in the NL Championship Series the following year, and then failed to even make the NLCS in 2011, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the final game of the Division Series.

 

With the departure of NL stars such as Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder to the AL, the balance of power has shifted to the Junior Circuit. Some might say the AL was already the dominant league over the past few seasons, but key statistics prove otherwise, especially when it comes to the World Series hardware. The Cardinals come into 2012 as the reigning World Series champions after disposing the Rangers in an exciting seven- game series last October and the Giants proved best in 2011 with a five-game win over Texas.

 

The Senior Circuit has taken home the World Series in three of the last four seasons and four of the last six. Moreover, the NL has won the last two All- Star games after failing to come home a winner between 1996 and 2009.

 

Philadelphia is the NL favorite because the team returns three of its four aces from a year ago: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. However, despite last year's 102 regular-season victories, the bottom fell out in the postseason when the offense fell apart.

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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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