Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
08/27/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The greatness of Albert Pujols has been well documented within the world of baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals slugger has been turning heads since his rookie season in 2001, compiling three Most Valuable Player awards and a World Series title along the way.
But what could become his greatest individual accomplishment and potentially one of the ultimate achievements in baseball history, has gone relatively unnoticed.
Pujols has a legitimate shot to not only become the first player to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 but, in the process, could become the first player in major league history to lead his league in average, home runs, runs batted in, hits, runs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging).
Yastrzemski, Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams and Ty Cobb are some of the all-time greats who have a Triple Crown to their name and Pujols could soon join the elite company. What's more impressive, is that he could finish the year with a more dominating season than any of those legends had during their Triple Crown year.
Pujols is no stranger to records, as he is already the fastest player to reach 300 career homers, third youngest to reach 400, is second all-time on the Cardinals career home run list and is the only player in history to record at least 30 home runs in each of his first 10 seasons.
The 2001 Rookie of the Year is a nine-time all-star who has been the recipient of five silver sluggers and one gold glove award (2006). The native of the Dominican Republic has gone .300-30-100 plus in every big league season. Pujols' mark of .314 in 2002 was the lowest of his career.
He's a rare power hitter in that he is actually a contact hitter first and foremost, yet can also hit the long ball with the best of them. Pujols is a career .332 hitter who has only led his league in home runs once - hitting 47 in 2009 - but has never hit less than 32 in a season. His career-best came in 2006 when he went deep 49 times.
What solidifies his ability to be a .300-plus power hitter is his knack for avoiding strikeouts. Players that hit home runs at the rate Pujols does are supposed to strike out a lot more than he does.
Minus his rookie year where he struck out 93 times and walked on 69 occasions, he's never struck out more than he has walked or whiffed more than 100 times in a season.
The Cardinals first basemen should be approaching 600 career home runs around the same age (35) Alex Rodriguez was, giving him, just like Rodriguez, a very good shot at eclipsing the all-time mark currently held by Barry Bonds at 762.
Yet Bonds and Rodriguez, who are among only seven players to reach the 600- career home run mark, have both had their names tied to performance-enhancing drugs.
Pujols has joined the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Jim Thome as players who have put up sensational home run numbers in the wrong era. None of these three have been linked to PED's but they are on the verge of joining Bonds, A-Rod and Sammy Sosa in a group whose membership is still very much exclusive.
Griffey amassed 630 career home runs, while Thome is at 581. Barring injuries, Thome and Pujols will reach 600 and expand that list to nine.
Manny Ramirez, whose total of 554 is good for 14th on the all-time list will likely join this club as well; one in which that has increasingly become designated for "roiders".
This means that seven of the 10 players destined to reach the milestone will have started their careers post-1985, assuming Thome, Pujols and Ramirez all get there. There have been more players admitted into this club in the past 25 years than in every other season before that combined.
And none of them have been celebrated in the way baseball fans did so for the only other three to accomplish the sacred feat in Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Things have changed nowadays in baseball, as every record, at least from an offensive standpoint and more specifically home runs, gets scrutinized to such a degree that the accomplishment loses its appeal regardless of if it was done clean' or not.
Perhaps the numbers of Pujols and Thome can be celebrated the way they should be. It's arguably the most exciting part about the game and because of what is now known as the 'steroid era', fans are hesitant to embrace these sluggers.
We are watching a player that in our lifetime may go from the best that there is to the best that there ever was. Embrace the ride while it lasts because despite what the past few decades may suggest, these types of players don't come around very often.
<< Brewers P Gallardo robbed at gunpoint
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo
and a clubhouse attendant were robbed at gunpoint early Friday morning.
According to a story on the team's website, a Brewers spokesperson said
Gallardo w
<< OF Hawpe agrees to minor league deal with the Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with veteran outfielder Brad Hawpe.Hawpe was released earlier this month by Colorado. He'll report to Class-A Charlotte of the Florida State League.Hawpe was o
<< Cleveland Browns 2010 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a new sheriff in town in regards to the Cleveland
Browns, and it hasn't taken long for Mike Holmgren to show an organization
that's been trying in vain to achieve sustained success who's boss.
The former Super Bowl
<< Union take aim at three points against Revs
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams coming off of disappointing losses
last time out hook up at Gillette Stadium on Saturday as the New England
Revolution play host to the Philadelphia Union.
Both sides enter the weekend on t
Houston hopes to start win streak at Colorado >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston manager Dominic Kinnear summed up
the Dynamo's 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night perfectly when he
said, "Thank goodness for Brian Ching."
Ching scored a hat trick, including a spec
Knicks agree to terms with Patrick Ewing Jr. >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Knicks on Friday agreed to terms
with forward Patrick Ewing Jr.
Details of the contract were not released, per club policy.
The 26-year-old Ewing was originally drafted by Sacramento in the
Boyd leads 3-way tie for lead in Scotland >>
Perthshire, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Five days after losing a playoff,
England's Gary Boyd shot a four-under 68 to earn a share of the second-round
lead Friday at the Johnnie Walker Championship.
France's Julien Guerrier fired a 67
Rays sign OF Hawpe to minor league deal >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to terms with
outfielder Brad Hawpe on a minor league contract Friday and assigned him to
Single-A Charlotte.
The 31-year-old was given his release by the Colorado Rock
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting