Ambres' hit sends Mets past Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2007 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chip Ambres hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning to give New York the lead, as the Mets rallied late to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, in the finale of a four-game set.

Nomar Garciaparra's two-run homer in the sixth inning gave Los Angeles a 4-2 lead, but the Mets scored a run each in the eighth and ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Jose Reyes led off the eighth with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly to bring New York within 4-3.

Jonathan Broxton then struggled in the ninth and the Mets took advantage of a Matt Kemp error to tie the game. Carlos Delgado greeted Broxton with a single and a Broxton wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Anderson Hernandez to reach second.

After Paul Lo Duca's groundout sent Hernandez to third, Kemp dropped Shawn Green's fly ball to shallow right field, allowing to Hernandez to cross home plate and Green to reach second.

Broxton then uncorked his second wild pitch of the inning to send Green to third before recovering to striking out Ruben Gotay and pinch-hitter Ramon Castro to avoid further damage.

However, New York went right back to work in the 10th as Lastings Milledge and Beltran hit back-to-back one-out singles off D. J. Houlton (0-1). Then, after David Wright grounded into a force out to put runners, Ambres came through with a run-scoring single to left.

Los Angeles threatened in the bottom of the 10th as Juan Pierre led off with a walk before swiping second. Billy Wagner struck out Russell Martin and intentionally walked Jeff Kent before he caught Kemp looking at a called third strike.

A wild pitch moved the runners over a base, but Wagner struck out Garciaparra to nail down his 22nd save of the season.

Reyes finished 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored and Pedro Feliciano (2-1) pitched a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the win for the Mets, who took three of four against LA.

Rafael Furcal homered and Luis Gonzalez scored twice for the Dodgers, who have lost four of six after a five-game winning streak.

Furcal led off the game with his third homer of the season and James Loney's two-out RBI double in the fourth made it 2-0.

LA Eric starter Stults, meanwhile, retired 10 straight batters until Lo Duca led off the fifth with a single. Stults quickly erased Lo Duca with a double play groundout, but the left-hander ran into trouble in the sixth as New York tied the game.

After Mets starter Orlando Hernandez struck out, Reyes legged out his 10th triple of the year before scoring on Milledge's double.

Rudy Seanez took over for Stults and Wright's two-out RBI single made it 2-2. The Dodgers answered in the home half of the sixth as Gonzalez walked with one out and Garciaparra crushed the first pitch he saw over the left field wall.

Stults pitched 5 1/3 innings in just his third career start, yielding two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Hernandez, on the other hand, was tagged for four runs on seven hits through six innings.

Game Notes

Stults made his first career start against the Mets last September and picked up the win after pitching six innings of one-run ball...Broxton allowed a run in a day game for the first time this season (17 1/3 innings)...Pierre went hitless in four at-bats and saw his 14-game hitting streak come to an end.

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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.