Reds hand ball to rookie Leake vs. Nationals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Reds are going to be careful with how many innings rookie Mike Leake racks up this season. They might be tempted to take the leash off tonight given how well he pitched against the Nationals last time.

Leake will try to stretch his unbeaten streak to five straight starts this evening when Cincinnati continues a four-game series with Washington at Great American Ball Park.

The eighth overall pick of the 2009 draft, Leake skipped the minors and jumped right into the Reds' rotation this season, going 6-1 with a 3.53 earned run average over the first half while throwing 109 2/3 innings. That includes a victory against the Nationals on June 5 as he limited the club to just one unearned run on seven hits over seven innings, striking out five batters without a walk.

Though he hasn't lost since June 16, the 22-year-old righty is just 1-0 with a 5.13 ERA over his unbeaten run. Leake did not get a decision on July 9 versus the Phillies, hurling 8 1/3 innings while giving up five runs -- four in the ninth inning -- on nine hits.

The Reds have won three of four since the All-Star break and took last night's series opener, 7-2. Johnny Cueto allowed just two runs and four hits over six innings, winning his ninth game of the season while lowering his season ERA to 3.39. Cueto has allowed two runs or less in each of his last six starts.

"He's learning to back off the mound, take the ball out of the air some, regroup and get his composure back," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He's learning and he's winning while he's learning."

Jonny Gomes and Miguel Cairo both connected on solo homers, with Gomes ending with three hits and three runs scored. Drew Stubbs added a two-run double for the Reds, who remained a half-game back of first-place St. Louis in the National League Central despite playing without Scott Rolen for a third straight game.

The All-Star third baseman had been battling the flu, but also revealed he has a right hamstring injury. He received a cortisone shot and could land on the disabled list.

Even without Rolen, the Reds put up six runs and six hits over J.D. Martin's 5 1/3-inning outing for the Nationals, who have lost three in a row and five of six.

Washington was coming off back-to-back shutouts versus Florida and has only scored eight runs over its last five games. Nyjer Morgan and Cristian Guzman had one RBI each last night.

"As a manager that's what you do, you worry," Washington manager Jim Riggleman said of the recent offensive slump. "You never take anything for granted. I'm positive we'll come out here [Tuesday] and try to win a ballgame."

The Nats recalled right-hander Luis Atilano last night from Triple-A Syracuse and he will start tonight.

Atilano is 6-6 with a 4.85 ERA and he lost his final two starts before getting sent down to the minors. He last pitched on July 8 versus the Padres and was charged with four runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings of a 7-1 setback.

The 25-year-old made his first career start versus the Reds on June 5, squaring off with Leake, and gave up two runs, only one earned, over seven innings in a tough-luck loss.

The Reds took two of three in Washington on June 4-6, but it was the Nationals who took three of four at Cincinnati last season.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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