Unpredictable tournament sets up USA-Cuba in quarters
Baseball Betting Lines
07/30/2010 -
Thunder Bay, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After six exciting days and 30 hard-
fought games of round-robin competition, the 2010 International Baseball
Federation World Junior Baseball Championship is set to begin the medal round.
Anything but predictable, the round-robin portion of the tournament had a touch
of everything, from pitching gems to nail-biting, walk-off wins. Fans in
Thunder Bay have been treated all week to a world class display of the best
young talent the game has to offer.
Even before the first pitch was thrown, the drama had begun. Less than 24 hours
before the start of the championship, the IBAF announced that Team Venezuela
had dropped out of the tournament amid speculation of visa troubles, only to be
reinstated the following day, enabling them to play in their second scheduled
game. While Venezuela stumbled to a 1-4 record in round-robin play, their
eventual participation in the tournament can be viewed as a minor victory.
Perhaps the most shocking storyline to emerge out of the preliminary round was
powerhouse Cuba's 3-2 record and fourth-place finish in Pool B. Cuba enjoyed a
blazing-hot start to the tournament capturing wins in each of their first three
contests while outscoring their opponents 29-1, but following a 6-5 loss to the
defending champions from South Korea in their fourth game, Team Cuba was beaten
in extra innings by tournament underdogs the Netherlands. As a result, a
potential gold-medal-game scenario will now take place in just the
quarterfinals, as Cuba will take on undefeated Team USA.
"You never know what is going to happen in a tournament," said Team USA
assistant manager Tom Succow. "I think all different types of things occur when
you have a round-robin with as many games as we've played in the past week. The
fact that we have drawn Cuba and Cuba has drawn us, it's not shocking,"
Equally unpredictable was Wednesday night's surprise thriller between Team
Canada and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic came into the game winless
and hungry to upset the host nation in front of a patriotic sold out Port
Arthur Stadium, and almost delivered another shocking tournament upset. After
being up 6-2 through seven innings, Canada chipped away until Dalton Pompey hit
a walk-off, opposite-field blast into the corner in the bottom of the ninth
that gave Canada a quarterfinal berth versus Italy. Had Canada lost to the
Czechs they would have had a much more daunting task in the round of eight,
facing a talented Chinese Taipei team whose only loss came to gold-medal
favorites Team USA.
Canada's path to the gold medal game could not have been scripted any better
for the host nation. Should Canada beat Italy on Friday, they would face the
winner of Team Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in the first semi-final matchup
Saturday afternoon. Arguably the three toughest matchups in the entire
tournament for Canada have fallen to the opposite side of the medal round
bracket. In the process, Cuba, USA and South Korea are likely to beat up on
each other vying for the remaining spot in the gold medal final. This all
bodes well for a Canadian team looking to build off the momentum of a walk-off
win but if we've learned anything from this past week, it's that nothing is
certain. With the tournament shifting to single-game knock out, there's an
even smaller margin for error, and an upset at this stage of the game doesn't
permit for second chances.
Even though the round-robin hasn't shaken down exactly as experts had
projected, contending teams are echoing the pragmatic words of Succow.
"You've got to play the best teams to win the gold medal...our mind set is to
win the gold medal."
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NFL Football Sports Betting
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
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Bonds nearly hits HR 751, SF wins
4 and drove in
a pair of runs, and Barry Bonds nearly hit homer No. 751 as San Francisco beat
1, in the middle contest of three at AT&T Park.
6) allowed five hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings, fanning
eight and walking three.
game slide.
Bonds, who came within five homers of Hank Aaron's record on Friday, went
1 with three walks, an RBI double and scored twice. The double ...
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