A-Rod belts two more HRs as Yanks blast Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/09/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez hit a pair of homers to give him 51 for the season, and the New York third baseman broke a record in the process as the Yankees smashed the Kansas City Royals, 11-5, at Kauffman Stadium.

Rodriguez had a two-run drive with nobody out in the fourth inning and then in his next at-bat hit his 51st, a leadoff shot to left field in the sixth. Both were off Brian Bannister.

Rodriguez, who became just the fourth player in Yankees history to reach 50 home runs, has hit 49 of them while playing third base, breaking the major league record of 48 by Philadelphia's Mike Schmidt (1980) and Seattle's Adrian Beltre (2004) for most in a single year at that position.

Despite nursing a sore ankle, Rodriguez has hit eight homers in his last 10 games. It also gave Rodriguez 515 career homers, moving within six of Willie McCovey and Ted Williams, who are tied for 15th on the all-time list. He also joined Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as the only Yankees to ever reach 50 in a season.

Wilson Betemit blasted a three-run homer, while Johnny Damon had three hits, including a two-run shot, for the Yankees, who remained three games ahead of Detroit in the American League wild card race. New York also pulled within 5 1/2 games for the lead in the AL East, as Boston lost at Baltimore, 11-5, Saturday night.

Andy Pettitte (13-8) was charged with seven hits and two runs over 6 1/3 innings to win for the seventh time in eight decisions.

The Yankees won their fourth straight contest and will go for the three-game sweep Sunday afternoon with Chien-Ming Wang on the mound.

Bannister (12-8), who had a four-start winning streak broken, was charged with seven hits and seven runs in five-plus frames.

Shane Costa and Emil Brown each had two RBI for the Royals, losers of four in a row.

Betemit walked with one out in the third, and with two down Damon blasted his 10th homer of the year.

Bobby Abreu doubled to start the fourth inning. Rodriguez, who has already established a Yankee record for most homers in a single season by a right- handed batter, then blasted a 3-1 offering from Bannister over the wall in center field. That gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead.

Brown doubled in two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Rodriguez struck again in the sixth, a shot to left leading off the frame.

It was only the start of a big inning for New York, which sent 12 men to the plate, scoring seven times. Hideki Matsui was hit by a pitch and Jorge Posada walked. Ryan Braun then entered from the bullpen, and one out later Betemit homered to center field.

Melky Cabrera singled and Damon doubled, and another run scored on Alberto Gonzalez's fielder's choice. Abreu doubled in two more for a 11-2 margin.

Rodriguez was hit by a pitch in the eighth and was pinch-run for by Shelley Duncan.

Costa, in a pinch-hit role, grounded out to force a run in the eighth. Mike Sweeney singled in a run in the ninth, and another Costa groundout accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Pettitte passed the 2,500 innings pitched mark in his career...Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter left the game in the fifth inning due to right knee stiffness...It's the third time Rodriguez has hit at least 50 homers in a season. His career-best was 57 for Texas in 2002...The Yankees are 8-1 against the Royals this season and 15-3 since the start of 2006.

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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.