Blue Jays homer four times in rout of Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

05/18/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Hill smacked a three-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays dominated the Minnesota Twins, 11-2, to split a two-game set.

Lyle Overbay went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and three RBI, Vernon Wells hit a solo home run and drove in two and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run home run for the Blue Jays, who have won five of six. Shaun Marcum (3-1) went seven innings in the start and was charged with just one run on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Alexei Casilla and Jason Kubel each drove in a run for the Twins, who had a two-game win streak stopped. Carl Pavano (4-4) was tagged for six runs on 10 hits over four innings.

Toronto grabbed the lead in the first as a sacrifice fly from Wells was followed by an RBI double by Overbay for a 2-0 lead.

In the second, Jose Bautista was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Encarnacion followed by hitting a pitch off the top of the wall in left-center and over for a 4-0 lead.

In the third, Wells started the frame by drilling the first pitch he saw into the left field stands for a 5-0 lead.

Minnesota finally got on the board in the fourth when Michael Cuddyer led off with a triple and Kubel followed with a single to make it a 5-1 game.

Toronto, though, got the run back in the bottom of the fourth. Jose Molina reached first on an infield single to start the inning and Fred Lewis followed with a double. After Hill struck out, Adam Lind singled to right to easily score Molina, but Lewis was gunned down at home by Kubel.

Toronto blew the game wide open in the sixth. With one out, Molina and Lewis singled and Hill followed with a blast over the left field wall. After Jesse Crain entered the game, Wells reached base on an infield single, making it to third on an error from Crain, and Overbay made it an 11-1 game with his fourth home run of the season.

Casilla's pinch-hit, one-run triple in the eighth accounted for the final score.

Game Notes

Toronto has another two-game set with the Mariners in Seattle starting on Wednesday...Minnesota also has a two-game set in Boston beginning on Wednesday...Toronto has won 15 of the last 19 against Minnesota...Pavano is 3-5 in 10 appearances against Toronto...Marcum improved to 2-1 in four starts against Toronto...Encarnacion was activated from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game.

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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.