Iannetta, Cook help Rockies avoid sweep

Baseball Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Iannetta's solo home run in the sixth allowed seven strong innings by Aaron Cook to hold up in a 1-0 Rockies win against the Reds to avert a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.

Cook (4-5) gave up six hits, fanned five and walked one to pick up an elusive first road win to the 2010 season. He was winless in nine previous road starts having gone 0-5 in that stretch.

Iannetta had one of three multi-hit efforts in Sunday's pitchers' duel with the Reds' Orlando Cabrera and Drew Stubbs collecting the other two.

Cincinnati's Travis Wood (0-1) again pitched well with nothing to show for it. The 23-year-old is still seeking his first big-league win through four starts after holding Colorado to three hits and a run over six innings.

The rookie hurler walked four and struck out six coming off a near perfect game broken up in the ninth of an eventual 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Phillies.

The Reds had a chance to tie it in the ninth after Stubbs singled off Huston Street with one away and Ryan Hanigan fisted a pinch-hit single into shallow center to leave runners at the corners.

Chris Heisey chased a slider off the plate for the second out and Street retired Brandon Phillips on three effective sliders to end the dramatics and stay perfect on the year in save chances with his sixth.

Wood's only mistake came in the sixth with two out as Iannetta pulled a 2-2 changeup over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie. Cook retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced before giving way to Joe Beimel in the eighth.

Beimel got Joey Votto to ground out and Rafael Betancourt came on for the final two outs, inducing a pop fly from Laynce Nix to end the inning after an 11-pitch at-bat.

The Reds bullpen kept them in the game for a chance to tie the game in the later innings as Nick Masset and Arthur Rhodes fired a pair of clean frames in relief of Wood. Logan Ondrusek gave up a two-out single to Clint Barmes in the ninth, but Bill Bray entered and got pinch-hitter Seth Smith to foul out behind home plate.

Cincinnati had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but failed to get a run home.

Nix struck out with runners at first and third in the first inning and Wood grounded out to strand a runner at third in the second. The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in their next at-bat, but Miguel Cairo grounded out to end the threat. Cook got another ground ball out from Phillips in the fourth to leave a runner at second.

Game Notes

Cook is 3-0 in nine lifetime meetings with the Reds...Wood lowered his earned run average to 2.02 in his first appearance in Cincinnati...The Rockies broke a three-game losing streak...The Reds have lost five of seven games overall...A pair of Rockies' hitting streaks went by the wayside Sunday with Jonathan Herrera's ending at 13 games and Carlos Gonzalez's snapped at 10 games...Reds third baseman Scott Rolen sat for a second straight game due to illness. In addition, outfielder Jay Bruce was given the day off...Cincinnati finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

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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.