Struggling Braves turn to Lowe in finale with Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates sure have been enjoying their role of spoiler in this series and are now in position to sweep the Atlanta Braves for the first time in over 16 years.

To do that they will have to solve Derek Lowe, who has won all nine of his career starts versus Pittsburgh and will try to get Atlanta back on track in the finale of a three-game set this evening at PNC Park.

The Braves' offense has plated just 12 runs over their last six games, a span in which they have lost five times, and failed to cross the plate in last night's 5-0 setback. Atlanta's third loss in a row dropped the club a half- game behind Philadelphia for first place in the National League East, a spot it had held solo since May 31.

"It happens," Braves manager Bobby Cox said on Atlanta's website after the loss. "You can't do anything about it. You just got to worry about each game as they come along."

Hopefully for Atlanta, Lowe's past success versus the Pirates carries over tonight as his club aims to avoid its first sweep in this set since April 29- May 1, 1994. Lowe has a 2.76 career earned run average in his nine starts versus Pittsburgh and beat the franchise on May 28 with seven innings of one- run ball.

The 37-year-old righty hasn't pitched since Aug. 29, though, due to lingering soreness in his pitching elbow, but he did turn in a successful bullpen session on Monday.

"Anytime you miss a start and have an MRI, it's not what you want," said Lowe on Atlanta's website. "It reaffirms that what we did was the right way to go."

Lowe lasted just three innings in his last start, giving up five runs, six hits and three walks. He is 11-12 with a 4.53 ERA this year.

While Lowe has never lost to the Pirates, teammate Tim Hudson's recent run of good pitching versus the club did not carry over on Tuesday. Hudson was tagged for four runs over 6 1/3 innings to suffer the loss as he allowed an earned run against Pittsburgh for the first time since Aug. 23, 2006.

All five runs came in the seventh inning for the Pirates, as Delwyn Young hit a two-run homer and Ronny Cedeno added a triple that brought home a pair of runs. That offensive outburst backed James McDonald, who got the win after tossing seven scoreless innings.

"Tim Hudson is a great competitor, and he's a great pitcher," said Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez, who also drove in a run. We just always try to grind it out and play until the end."

Pirates rookie Neil Walker added a double in the game to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.

The Pirates have beaten the Braves just three times in eight meetings this year and came into this set having lost eight of their last 11 to Atlanta.

Zach Duke will try to pitch Pittsburgh to the elusive sweep this evening and is 2-0 over his last three starts, but has allowed four runs in each of his last two.

The 27-year-old lasted just five innings in a victory over the Nationals on Friday, getting charged with five hits and three walks while improving to 7-12 with a 5.24 ERA on the season.

Duke gave up just one unearned run versus the Braves at home on May 23, getting a no-decision, but the southpaw was then lit up for seven runs and 12 hits five days later in a setback at Atlanta. He fell to 2-4 with a 4.58 ERA in his career versus the Braves.

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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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