Mets use run in ninth to edge Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jesus Feliciano tripled to deep right-center to open the ninth inning and scored the game-winning run on Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly, as the Mets beat the Diamondbacks, 5-4.

David Wright went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Angel Pagan had three hits and scored twice for New York, which lost of the opener of this three-game set on Friday, 9-6.

Francisco Rodriguez (4-2) threw a scoreless top of the ninth to get the win, the Mets' first in five games against Arizona this season.

Juan Gutierrez (0-6) was on the hill in the bottom half to take the loss, the club's eighth in nine game. Justin Upton knocked in three runs in defeat.

New York's Bobby Parnell started on the hill with a 2-1 lead in the seventh and loaded the bases on a pinch-hit double, single and walk. Upton, who in the third inning hit a sacrifice fly with the bases full, laced a double down the right-field line that plated Tony Abreu and Chris Young for a 3-2 Arizona edge.

Kelly Johnson then beat Ike Davis's throw home on Adam LaRoche's dribbler off Pedro Feliciano, who managed to keep it a two-run game from there.

Wright's two-run double off D.J. Carrasco in roughly the same spot as Upton's tied the game in the bottom half, and Beltran's fly to right in the ninth was plenty deep to plate Feliciano without a play at the plate to earn the win.

Mets starter Hisanori Takahashi lasted six innings and allowed just one run on seven hits and two walks while striking out 10. His counterpart, Barry Enright, also had a quality start, throwing six frames and yielding two runs on four hits and three walks.

Wright followed Upton's sac fly with a two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the third to tie the game.

Jose Reyes gave the Mets the lead in the fifth with an RBI hit to right.

Game Notes

Young, Johnson and Miguel Montero each had two hits for Arizona, which went 3- for-11 with runners in scoring position...In the series finale on Sunday, newly-acquired Dan Hudson will make his Arizona debut against Jon Niese...The D'Backs also made two trades on Saturday, acquiring outfielder Ryan Church, infielder Bobby Crosby and Carrasco from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for catcher Chris Snyder, infielder Pedro Ciriaco and cash considerations, while also sending reliever Chad Qualls to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for a player to be named later.

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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.