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06/21/2012 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Espinosa's two-run double in the sixth inning put the Nationals on top for good as Washington downed the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-2, in the rubber match of a three-game interleague set.
Gio Gonzalez (9-3) allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks over six innings to earn the win for Washington, which took the last two games of this series on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
Tyler Clippard worked a perfect ninth to record his 11th save of the season.
Joel Peralta (0-3) gave up Espinosa's go-ahead double to absorb the loss. Matt Moore started the game for Tampa Bay and allowed two runs on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts through five innings as the Rays lost for the sixth time in their last nine games.
The Rays left a man on second in the first inning, but were able to break through in the second after loading the bases with one out.
Following a Moore strike out, Desmond Jennings slapped a base hit through the right side of the infield to plate Hideki Matsui. Gonzalez fanned Carlos Pena to limit the damage and keep it a 1-0 game.
After the Nationals left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, they managed to take the lead in the third, starting with Espinosa and Bryce Harper both walking to start the inning and moving up to second and third on a double steal.
Michael Morse's sacrifice fly to center field brought home Espinosa before Ian Desmond singled in Harper to give Washington a 2-1 edge.
Gonzalez limited the Rays to just a Jose Lobaton double in the fourth inning from there until Ben Zobrist led off the sixth with a double into the left- field corner and later scored on Sean Rodriguez's single up the middle to knot the game at two runs apiece.
But Washington quickly regained the lead in the home sixth with a two-out rally off Peralta when Jesus Flores doubled and pinch-hitter Adam LaRoche was intentionally walked before both rounded the bases on Espinosa's double down the first-base line.
"He hit the heck out of that ball," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said about Espinosa's double. "He's hitting the ball where it's pitched and he's hitting it awfully hard."
Tampa Bay had a chance to fight back again by filling the bags with two outs in the seventh inning, but Ryan Mattheus entered the game out of the bullpen and fanned pinch-hitter Will Rhymes to end the threat.
The Nationals made it a 5-2 game in the bottom of the seventh when Ryan Zimmerman singled, stole second and crossed the plate on Roger Bernadina's double to left field.
Sean Burnett and Clippard combined to retire the next six Rays batters to close out the victory.
Game Notes
Gonzalez has not allowed a home run in six straight starts...Tampa Bay leads the all-time series against the Nationals, 5-4. But the Rays are 10-11 against the franchise, having gone 5-7 against the Expos...Washington improved to 9-6 in interleague play this season, while Tampa Bay fell to 7-8...The Rays hit 3- for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base...Washington went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
<< Pirates pound Twins
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Middlebrooks, who went 3-for-4
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Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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