June 29

Betting Corner (19-7 overall)
Tough day yesterday 1-3, as has been the case with Sunday's this year even prior to published picks.

In an effort to provide thoughts on the entire card and see how the overall record goes, I will cover all games and pick sides in as many as possible.

CWS over Cle- Gavin Floyd has really pitched well lately and Pavano has been bad his last few. Cleveland has lost 8 of 10 and after trading DeRosa may be looking to the future already.
Bos over Bal - Boston have won 16 of last 20 against Baltimore. Lester goes today and the Sox are 8-1 in Lester's 9 career starts against the O's
Min over KC. The Twins have been starting series well winning game one in the last 5. Blackburn was Ok in last at Mil. Hochevar has been decent in 3 of last 4 but it is their first game back and I tend to fade if their is not some strong evidence to the contrary. Slight bias to Min.
Fla over Was- Florida have Nolasco going against former Marlin Olsen and although the price is terrible I look for a comfortable victory.
LAD over red hot Col. Don't see the dodgers losing 3 in a row at home and if they were looking ahead to this series with the red hot Rockies well here it is. Jimenez has been good this year but not against the Dodgers. Veteran Wolf has been around and I think can come up with a good one today.
SD-Hou no bias. The Padres first game coming home off short road trip that had a lot of travel,
but Hou are not doing anything special either. This is a rematch of May 10th game when the stros lit up Greer. However he has been going a little better in last two and Oswalt has been alternating good and bad if that continues tonight it is time for a bad one.
DET over OAK. When streaks start getting up to 5 or more I tend to shy away. Although in baseball you don't mind riding hot teams or going against cold as the streak increases you know it has to end at some point. Just not tonight. Porcello has been going good and Anderson is starting after dealing with some bicep soreness. While Oakland has the revenge factor working for them, they don't have the players actually playing for them to do anything about it at least for tonight.
SF over Stl. Tim Lincecum has never lost to Stl and at a shortish price I will back one of the games best.
LAA at Tex. Big one in the AL west. Don't see a big edge in the pitching matchup. Angels lost all 3 last time here but are playing considerably better now. Like to just watch game one before looking to choose sides for the rest of the series.
Tor at home to TB. Roy Halladay returns and gets to face one of the hotter teams in Tampa, winners of 7 of 8. Clearly the pitching matchup favors the Jays, but in his first game back against a team going well there are too many croos currents in this one to be comfy with either side. Jays off a tough loss. Halladay rusty or brilliant tonight? Jays have scored 4 or more runs in 7 of 10. That would usually be enough for Roy, but Jays bullpen has been suspect?????
Mil vs NYM- Neither team great of late. Both are 4-6 in last 10. Nieve has been pleasant surprise for NYM with 3 good starts in a row. But the lineup is depleted so no bias.
Cubs vs Pit- Chi have lost 6 of 7 and Rich Harden has not pitched well of late. Alnost get the sense he doesn't want to go on the DL for the hundredth time so isn't full letting go. Velocity seems good but something has been missing. Zach Duke has pitched real well for most of the year but falls victim to lack of offense. No bias here.

Picks: Bos, CWS, Fla, LAD, SF, Min, Det.

Sports Shorts
Baseball
The Jays coughed one up yesterday. Off to a lead Brian Tallet couldn't hold that and then with 2 on and none out in the ninth, the follies began. I am a big fan of Cito Gaston and remember fondly him guiding us to back to back World Series, but not having Aaron Hill move those runners in the ninth was a mistake especially when the reason was that Hill had already hit 2 homers in the game. Fair enough to play a hunch but then John MacDonald getting caught taking too big of a lead at 2nd and being tagged out in a rundown is unacceptable. That lead by the way was part of a double steal the Jays were going to attempt so we could have runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Wait couldn't we have done that with Hill bunting?? Then Vernon tapped out weakly to SS to end the game, that's why we pay him the big bucks. The April surprise is now in 4th in the AL East.

Tommy Hanson pitched out of trouble in the 4th inning to pick up another win. Bobby Cox compared him to John Smoltz.... Anybody else watch him throw, he may be good but I don't think he looks like Smoltz when he throws and I think it may be prudent to wait on those kind of comparisons.

Mark DeRosa to the Cards. Plays lots of positions, can hit in different lineup spots, veteran, Still its Mark DeRosa, maybe I missed something but before last year he would be described as a journeyman or utility player. I would be surprised if he happened to being the missing piece in St Louis. I think they still need a big bat in that lineup besides Albert.

Angels are in first again in the west. Anyone shocked

Tennis
Some people refer to today as the best day of tennis of the year, with all round of 16 matches on both the mens and womens sides of the draws. Ultimately whatever happens today will more than likely lead to the Williams sisters playing in the final against each other. Venus may have a test in the semis with Safina or Mauresmo (former champ) but most likely just a speed bump til she meets her sister.
The UK press could not be pulling any harder for a Murray-Federer final. On paper it looks to be likely however Federer has potentially the six foot 10 inch huge serving Karlovic in the quarters then would have to get by Djokovic. No more tennis until the finals unless something gets in the way of the expected results.

NASCAR
There won't be a lot of car racing remarks but congratulations to Joey Logano on his win and in the process becoming the youngest driver to win a cup race.

MMA
Former wrestler Bobby Lashley won his 4th straight. He keeps winning and Lesnar keeps winning and you may get to see what would happen when two pro wrestlers fight for real.

Golf
Just need to mention Kenny Perry winning again with the age, swing, putting stance, and mental baggage of Augusta he is the proof of "its not how but how many" way of golf. David Toms seems to have found a bit of a game lately and might be someone to watch this summer.

Soccer
Huge props to the U.S. mens team for a great Confed cup. Getting to final was one thing, but leading 2-0 at the half was almost too much to hope for. Unfortunately the Brazilians showed up to play in the second half and roared back to score 3 and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. In the end there was little doubt of who deserved this one, as the Americans barely touched the ball in the second half.