Enright and Upton carry DBacks past Rockies

Baseball Betting Lines

08/21/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Enright pitched into the seventh inning and Justin Upton finally got the best of Ubaldo Jimenez by hitting the go- ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, as Arizona topped Colorado, 3-1, at Chase Field.

Enright (4-2) gave up three hits and a run over 6 2/3 innings. The right- hander moved to 3-0 over his last seven starts and hasn't lost since July 11 against Florida.

Jimenez (17-4) failed in his third attempt to become the first Rockies pitcher to win 18 games in a single season. Kevin Ritz (1996), Pedro Astacio (1999) and Jeff Francis (2007) all won 17 games for the Rockies.

Jimenez allowed three hits and the three runs over six innings.

Colorado, which suffered a 4-3 loss in 10 innings on Friday, left two men on base in the seventh inning and then threatened in the ninth against Juan Gutierrez. Ian Stewart was hit by a pitch and Chris Iannetta singled with one out. Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi flied out and pinch-hitter Melvin Mora fanned as Gutierrez earned his fourth save.

Upton had been 0-for-15 lifetime against Jimenez entering Saturday. He doubled in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Then in the sixth, Enright singled with one out. With two down, Upton got hold of the first offering and hit a liner over the wall in left field for his 17th homer of the year.

The Rockies got consecutive singles from Stewart and Todd Helton in the second inning before Iannetta grounded into a fielder's choice to plate the game's first run. They failed add to their lead in the third when Troy Tulowitzki fanned, leaving a runner at third base.

Tulowitzki doubled with two down in the sixth, but Stewart fouled out.

Game Notes

Earlier in the day, the Diamondbacks agreed to terms with pitcher Mike Hampton on a minor league contract. The 37-year-old southpaw will report to Triple-A Reno to begin his comeback attempt to the big leagues. Hampton made 21 starts for Houston last season, going 7-10 with a 5.30 ERA. He has compiled a 148-115 record with a 4.07 earned run average over 409 games, 355 as a starter, during his 15-season career with the Mariners, Astros, Mets, Rockies and Braves...Carlos Gonzalez didn't start for Colorado due to a knee injury but drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

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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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