AL Central hopefuls resume set in Motown

Baseball Betting Lines

07/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American League Central foes continue to go after each other this afternoon at Comerica Park as the Detroit Tigers host the Minnesota Twins in the third test of a four-game set heading into the All-Star break.

The Twins are making a strong push to catch up to the division-leading Chicago White Sox, now just 1 1/2 games out of first place thanks to back-to-back wins over the Tigers in the first two games of this series.

Last night Minnesota used a strong pitching effort by Glen Perkins to get past the Tigers, 3-2. The starter allowed just two runs on six hits and a pair of walks over 6 2/3 innings. After that the bullpen took over, with Joe Nathan eventually closing the door with a perfect ninth for his 26th save of the campaign.

Alexi Casilla finished with three hits and a run scored for the visitors, while Nick Punto played shortstop and came up with two runs knocked in.

On the other side of the ledger Matt Joyce recorded a pair of doubles and a run scored, but failed to plate anyone himself, leaving that up to Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen, both of whom had an RBI in the losing effort.

Armando Galarraga had some trouble with his control for the Tigers, permitting four walks and six hits to turn into two runs over 5 2/3 innings as he absorbed the loss.

Already 1-0 versus the Tigers this season in three appearances, Scott Baker tries to earn his fourth career win overall against Detroit as he takes the mound for the Twins this afternoon.

Baker, who is 3-3 in his career against the Tigers and 22-22 overall during his four-year career, threw seven shutout innings versus Boston on Monday, but failed to factor into the 1-0 setback at Fenway.

The right-hander allowed just five hits and issued a pair of walks, while striking out seven in the outing. Baker has walked no more than two in any of his appearances this season, recording a mere 14 bases-on-balls in 76 innings, compared to 64 strikeouts along the way.

As for the Tigers, they have Nate Robertson preparing to counter on the hill today. The lefty, who is 8-9 in his career versus Minnesota, is already 1-1 against the club this year, showing a lofty 7.02 ERA over the course of three games.

Robertson, who suffered through back-to-back games of 11 hits allowed, straightened himself out on Sunday when he went the distance against Seattle in a 2-1 road win. In the contest the seven-year veteran permitted just four hits, walked a pair and struck out only one in his first complete game of the campaign.

While it still sounds rather high, Robertson's ERA dropped to a season-low 5.19.

Not only has Punto been a valuable commodity in the field, he's done the trick at the plate as well with 11 hits in his last 26 at-bats, leading to five RBI in the last seven games. Not to be overlooked is Justin Morneau who is hitting .462 over the last week with a .808 slugging percentage as well.

Take away his RBI from Friday and Polanco has been nearly invisible the last six games for the Tigers, hitting a mere .167 in 24 trips to the plate. A candidate for Player of the Week in the AL, Miguel Cabrera has certainly been holding up his end of the bargain with 11 hits in the last 27 at-bats, four of those going for home runs, which have led to seven of the team's 29 RBI.

Thanks to yesterday's win, the Twins have taken nine of the 13 meetings with Detroit so far in 2008.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.