Giants take rubber match from Nationals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/11/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Ishikawa went 2-for-3 and drove in three, and rookie Madison Bumgarner tossed six-plus solid innings, as the San Francisco Giants earned a 6-2 win over the Washington Nationals in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Buster Posey added a two-run triple and Juan Uribe had an RBI single for the Giants, who have won seven of their last nine. San Francisco heads into the All-Star break at 47-41 and in fourth place in the National League West.

Bumgarner (2-2) earned the win for allowing one run on seven hits with six strikeouts. The 20-year-old left-hander was making only his fourth start since being promoted from Triple-A Fresno in late June. Brian Wilson retired the final four batters to notch his 23rd save of the season.

Adam Dunn turned in a three-hit game and knocked in a run for Washington, which has dropped three of its last four. The Nationals are 39-50 and in last place in the NL East.

Livan Hernandez (6-5) took the loss for surrendering five runs on five hits with a pair of walks and fanned four in five frames.

San Francisco plated a pair of runs in the first to grab the early lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Ishikawa lined a two-run single to right. Hernandez, however, was able to limit the damage by retiring the next two hitters.

Bumgarner worked out of trouble in the second, and the Giants tacked on three more in the third. With runners of first and second and no outs, Posey roped a two-run triple off the left-center field wall, and Ishikawa followed with a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 game.

Washington mounted a two-out threat in the sixth by loading the bases, but Mike Morse flied out to shallow right to end the inning.

Ian Desmond led off the seventh with a base hit to end the afternoon for Bumgarner. Chris Ray took over on the hill and walked pinch-hitter Willie Harris, then issued a RBI single to Cristian Guzman two batters later. After Ryan Zimmerman walked, Jeremy Affeldt came on and was greeted by a run-scoring single from Dunn to get the Nats within 5-2. Giants manager Bruce Bochy again went the his bullpen and brought in Sergio Romo, who recorded the final two outs of the inning.

Uribe's run-scoring single in the eighth put the Giants up 6-2. Wilson retired the final batter in the bottom half and threw a scoreless ninth to close out the win.

Game Notes

The Giants won two of three games from the Nationals at AT&T Park from May 25-27 and are 15-4 against Washington since the start of the 2008 campaign. San Francisco has gone 8-2 at Nationals Park during that period...Washington went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13, while San Francisco finished 3-for-6 with RISP and left four.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.