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Phillies lose Utley, Polanco to injuries

Baseball Betting Lines

06/29/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies placed both second baseman Chase Utley and third baseman Placido Polanco on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday.

Utley, who has played in at least 156 games in each of the past two seasons, sprained the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb sliding into second during Monday's 7-3 loss to Cincinnati. He was forced to come out of the game in the ninth inning, and the team disabled him after seeing the results of an MRI on Tuesday.

The leading vote-getter for NL second basemen, Utley is batting .277 with 11 homers and 37 RBI in 72 games this season.

Polanco, who is leading the votes for NL third baseman in All-Star balloting, has been dealing with a left elbow injury for over a month. He received a cortisone shot in recent days, but the team felt it necessary to place him on the disabled list.

In 62 games for the Phillies this season, he's batting .318 with five home runs and 27 RBI.

To replace the two players on the roster, infielder/outfielder Greg Dobbs and shortstop Brian Bocock were recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

<< Tigers' Zumaya done for season after elbow injury
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya will miss the rest of the season after suffering a non-displaced fracture of the olecranon in his pitching elbow in a game against Minnesota on Monday. The

<< Report: Nowitzki opts out of contract
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki has reportedly elected to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. The report is according to the Dallas Morning News. Sho

<< San Diego will host Fed Cup final
White Plains, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 Fed Cup final between the host United States and reigning champion Italy will be held at the San Diego Sports Arena in California. The best-of-five tie will be held from November 7-8 and mar

<< FIFA has no choice but to embrace technology
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FIFA President Sepp Blatter apologized to both England and Mexico on Tuesday for officiating errors, and admitted it was time to take another look at goal-line technology. Perhaps Blatter should start by r

<< Nets send Yi to Washington
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have reportedly sent forward Yi Jianlian to the Washington Wizards for guard/forward Quinton Ross on Tuesday. The Newark Star Ledger is reporting that the move will be official

Heat waive Jones >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat requested waivers on forward James Jones on Tuesday. Jones has spent the past two seasons with Miami and in the 2009-10 campaign he appeared in 36 games and averaged 4.1 points in 14 minutes

Report: Oilers waive Moreau, two others >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers have apparently waived captain Ethan Moreau and forwards Robert Nilsson and Patrick O'Sullivan, according to a report on TSN.ca on Tuesday. The reported moves were necessary as th

Sampras, Agassi, McEnroe, Lendl to play at MSG >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York's Madison Square Garden will host an exhibition tennis event in February, as Pete Sampras will play former long- time rival Andre Agassi and John McEnroe will take on former arch-rival Ivan Lendl.

Yao exercises player option with Rockets >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has exercised the player option in his contract that will allow him to return to the team for the 2010-11 season. Yao had the option of terminating his contract early

Trail Blazers waive Ryan Gomes >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday waived forward Ryan Gomes. Gomes and Luke Babbitt, the 16th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, were acquired by Portland in a draft day trade with the Minnesota T

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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