05/21/2008 - Oakland, CA (Baseball Betting) - Jack Cust belted a pair of two-run home runs, and Dana Eveland threw his first career complete game as the Oakland Athletics avoided a sweep with a 9-1 dismantling of the Tampa Bay Rays in the finale of a three-game series at McAfee Coliseum.
Eveland (4-3) allowed just one run on three hits and struck out five to win for the first time in five starts.
Bobby Crosby went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in for the A's, who also snapped a three-game losing streak. Emil Brown added a pair of doubles and drove in a run, while Kurt Suzuki notched an RBI double. Jack Hannahan hit his third homer of the year and scored twice.
Andy Sonnanstine (6-2) had his five-game win streak snapped after being shelled for seven runs on nine hits in six innings. Jonny Gomes hit a solo homer to provide the scoring for the Rays, who have dropped three of five.
Sonnanstine retired the first eight batters before Gregorio Petit singled up the middle in the third. Hannahan followed with a walk, then Crosby ripped a grounder that rolled into the left field corner for a two-run double.
Oakland got to Sonnanstine again in the home fourth, as Ryan Sweeney started the threat with a one-out single to right. Brown then drilled a double to deep left, allowing Sweeney to round the bases for a 3-0 A's lead.
The Rays threatened when Gomes was hit by a pitch with one out in the fifth and Gabe Gross followed with a single, but Eveland got Shawn Riggans to ground to Hannahan for an inning-ending 5-3 double play.
Hannahan upped the lead to four runs with his one-out solo shot to right in the bottom of the frame, and after Crosby lined a single to right, Cust crushed his sixth homer of the year just over the wall in right-center.
Brown picked up his second double of the game to start the bottom of the sixth, and scored one out later when Suzuki doubled to left for a 7-0 edge.
Cust added a second two-run shot in the seventh, a blast to left-center off reliever Jason Hammel, and while Gomes finally got the Rays on the board with a leadoff homer in the eighth, Eveland didn't let Tampa Bay get any closer.
Game Notes
It was Cust's third career multi-homer game...Gross and Akinori Iwamura had the other hits for Tampa Bay, both singles...Hammel allowed two runs on two hits while walking three in an inning of relief...Both teams are off on Thursday, with the A's opening up a three-game home set with Boston on Friday and the Rays returning home to start a three-game series with the Orioles...Attendance was 22,712.
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<< Cust's two HR's help A's sink Rays
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Cust belted a pair of two-run home runs,
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a three
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Danny Dichio scored the only goal of the game
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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