Howard belts two homers as Phils stomp Padres

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2007 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Howard went 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs and five RBI as the Philadelphia Phillies pounded the San Diego Padres, 12-4, in the third game of a four-game set at Petco Park.

Wes Helms, Greg Dobbs and Carlos Ruiz each had two RBI for the Phillies, who have won two straight after losing their previous two.

Jamie Moyer (8-8) snapped a three-game losing streak as he gave up four runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings of work.

Milton Bradley hit a two-run home run while David Wells (5-6) got the loss as he was drilled for seven runs on seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings of work for the Padres, who have dropped three of their last five.

Before the game, the Padres held a ceremony to dedicate a statue of Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn. Gwynn will be inducted into the Hall on July 29 along with Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr.

Gwynn spent 20 seasons with the Padres, who are honoring the 15-time All-Star all weekend with a variety of in-stadium giveaways. In that span, the outfielder tied a National League record with eight batting titles, matching Honus Wagner's mark.

Just the 17th player in league history to spend an entire career of 20-or-more seasons with one club, Gwynn, also known as "Mr. Padre", retired with a career batting average of .338 with 3,141 hits in 2,440 games.

The Phillies grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Howard blasted a three- run home run to dead center.

San Diego got a run in the third as Josh Bard's single to center scored Adrian Gonzalez to make it a 3-1 contest.

Philadelphia, though, responded with three runs in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. Howard led off the frame with a shot to the second deck in the left- center field stands. After Aaron Rowand flied out, Pat Burrell worked a walk and Helms followed with a home run to left, his fourth of the season.

The Phillies added another run in the fifth when Howard punched a single to right to score Jimmy Rollins for a 7-1 advantage.

San Diego got a run back in the fifth as Bradley led off the inning with a triple off the right field wall and Gonzalez brought him home with a sacrifice fly to make it a 7-2 contest.

The Padres made it a three-run game in the seventh as Bradley hit a line drive two-run shot over the left field fence to cut the deficit to 7-4.

The Phillies, though, sealed the win in the ninth with five runs. With two outs, Rowand beat out an infield single to score Shane Victorino. After Michael Bourn singled to load the bases, Dobbs hit a pinch-hit, two-run single and Ruiz followed with a two-run double down the left field line for a 12-4 lead.

Game Notes

Phillies have won 14 of their last 19 against the Padres...It was Howard's 10th multi-home run game of his career and third of the season...San Diego stranded eight runners on base...Attendance was 40,917.

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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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