This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 4/19/1027

by Ricky Dimon - 4/19/2017

A. Alzner, Karl . Alzner had been the Cal Ripken of the Washington Nationals. But his streak of consecutive games played ended at 599 when he missed Washington's Game 3 overtime loss at Toronto on Tuesday. The veteran defenseman is questionable for Wednesday with an upper-body injury. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Capitals as -145 favorites.

B. Boston Marathon . Most importantly, the Boston Marathon came and went without incident. Less importantly, a Kenyan won the men's event. And…wait for it…a Kenyan also won the women's event. In news that may or may not be related, sky is blue and Bryce Harper is good at playing baseball.

C. Chelsea . The Blues have not yet shut the door on the rest of the English Premier League competition. They fell to 2-2 in their last two matches with a 2-0 loss at Manchester United this past Sunday. Tottenham Hotspur, meanwhile, has won seven in a row and has moved within four points of Chelsea for the top spot on the table. BookMaker has the Blues at -625 to win the title.

D. Dan Rooney . The legendary Steelers' chairman died last Thursday at 84 years old. Rooney took over the franchise in the 1960s and saw it win six championships. Pittsburgh had never even played in a title game prior to the Rooney era. R.I.P.

E. Eric Thames . Thames tied a Brewers' record on Monday by homering in five consecutive games. The first baseman, who hit six in total during the streak, saw it come to an end in a 9-7 loss to the Cubs on Tuesday. He still went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored. Not too shabby!

F. Falcons . The Super Bowl champions…wait, the NFC champions…will play the first sporting event in Atlanta's new Mercedes-Benz Stadium this fall. Atlanta's expansion Major League Soccer franchise had been scheduled for the stadium's opener on July 30, but that game and two others in August have been moved elsewhere because construction is running behind. The Falcons host Arizona in a preseason game on Aug. 26. They are +600 at GT Bets to defend their NFC crown.

G. Grasshoppers . Toasted grasshoppers with chili-lime salt are all the rage at Mariners home games this season. They are selling so fast that a per-game order limit has been established at Safeco Field. In the words of that old ESPN promo: "It's not crazy. It's sports." MyBookie.ag has Seattle at +1100 to win the AL Pennant.

H. Hawk, A.J. The former Green Bay linebacker officially retired from the NFL on Tuesday. Hawk, 33, played nine seasons with the Packers prior to brief stints with Cincinnati and Atlanta. He is Green Bay's all-time leader in tackles with 1,118.

I. Isaiah Thomas . Playing with a heavy heart on Sunday, one day after his sister was killed in a car crash, Thomas went for 33 points, six assists, and five rebounds in Game 1 against Chicago but the Celtics lost 106-102. Boston also went down on Tuesday, and this is the first time a No. 1 seed has ever trailed a No. 8 seed 2-0 in a series. The Bulls are -2 home favorites in Game 3, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

J. Johnson, Andre . Johnson either has signed or will sign a one-day contract with the Texans and retire from the NFL. The star receiver finished his career with 1,062 catches for 14,185 yards (both 11th all time) to go along with 70 touchdowns.

K. Kentucky Derby . With the Kentucky Derby less than a month away, some of the current favorites faltered at the recent Blue Grass Stakes. Irap, with the second-worst odds in the field of seven at 31-1, prevailed by three-quarters of a length over Practical Joke. McCraken, the favorite, was third. Classic Empire is a +450 favorite at Bovada Sportsbook to win the derby; Irap is +1600.

L. Leaving . Gonzaga guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who led his team to the NCAA Tournament title game before losing to North Carolina, has declared for the NBA Draft and will hire an agent. Grayson Allen, on the other hand, is returning to Duke. Trips right! Trips left! Trips everywhere!

M. Marbury, Stephon . This week's news that makes you feel old: Marbury is a grandfather. That's right; the 40-year-old posted a picture of his new grandson on Instagram last Thursday.

N. NFL schedule .The 2017 schedule comes out on Thursday. Get your popcorn ready.

O. Over . That's what Carmelo Anthony's marriage appears to be, even though divorce papers have not yet been filed. Reports say that 'Melo and La La have been separated for several months-not unlike his relationship with the Knicks.

P. Padraig Harrington . Well, not everyone was thrilled about Sergio Garcia's victory at the Masters earlier this month. Sergio still has his relative haters, and Harrington is among them. "I gave him every out I possibly could have at the 2007 Open," the 45-year-old Irishman said of his British victory over the Spaniard. "I was as polite as I could and as generous as I could be, but he was a very sore loser. And he continued to be a very sore loser."

Q. Quenneville, Joel . "That was a long time ago," the Blackhawks' head coach said when reminded that his team forced a Game 7 after trailing Vancouver 3-0 in a series back in 2011 (the Canucks ended up winning). Quenneville doesn't sound too confident that Chicago can come back from its current deficit, a shocking 3-0 hole against Nashville that most recently saw the Predators prevail 3-2 in overtime on Monday. The Blackhawks are +115 road underdogs in Game 4 on Thursday, as indicated by GT Bets.

R. Real Madrid . Good news for Cristiano Ronaldo: he scored his 100^th Champions League goal on Tuesday (scored three in total) as Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-2 (6-3 on aggregate) to advance to the semifinals. Bad news Cristiano Ronaldo: this might mean that he gets another statue.

S. Starling Marte . The Pirates' center fielder was suspended 80 games on Tuesday after testing positive for the performance enhancer nandrolone. Marte batted .311 last season and stole 47 bases. Ouch.

T. Toronto Blue Jays . What a difference a year makes; at least so far. The Blue Jays went 89-73 in 2016 and reached the ALCS. Right now they are 2-11, including 1-9 in their last 10 games. Welp, at least Leafs are playing well!

U. Utah Jazz . Center Rudy Gobert lasted all of 17 seconds in Game 1 against the Clippers last Saturday. He exited with a left-knee hyperextension and bone bruise and is questionable for the rest of the series. Utah won the opener before losing Game 2 on in L.A. on Tuesday.

V. Verlander, Justin . Verlander has been accused of tipping his pitches of late. So he took to Instagram and posted himself drinking a bottle of beer in a swimming pool with the caption, "working on my tipping." Solid post-aside from the fact that Kate Upton wasn't pictured. Detroit (Zimmermann) is a +155 underdog at Tampa Bay (Archer) on Wednesday, according to MyBookie.ag.

W. Wesley Bryan . Channeling his inner Buffalo Bills, Luke Donald was second best at the RBC Heritage for the fifth time in his career.Donald, who still has never won at Harbour Town, finished runner-up to Bryan last week. Bryan captured his first career PGA Tour title with a final-round 67 to beat Donald by one stroke.

X. Xavier Rhodes . The recent five-year, $68.75 million deal fellow cornerback Desmond Trufant recently signed with the Falcons may be especially good news for Rhodes, who can become an unrestricted free agent in 2018. He is in line for a huge payday, but maybe too huge for the Vikings to bring him back.

Y. Yadier Molina . You know things aren't going your way when a ball sticks to your chest protector and allows a hitter to get to first base. That's what happened to Molina and the Cardinals on April 6, when Matt Szscur of the Cubs struck out but reached first on a wild pitch that literally stuck to the catcher. The somewhat famous ball solid for $2,015 in an online action earlier this week. St. Louis, meanwhile, is just 5-9 but has won two in a row.

Z. Zach Werenski . The Blue Jackets' 19-year-old defenseman took a puck to the face off a shot by Pittsburgh's Phil Kessell during Game 3 of their first-round series last Sunday. If you've seen the selfie Werenski took afterward, you know how impressive is it is that he actually came back in and played. He has since been ruled out for the playoffs with a broken cheekbone. BetOnline Sportsbook has Columbus as a +184 road underdog on Thursday.

Start:	November 22, 2024 @ 11:59 PM
Expert:	Arun Shiva (Indian Cowboy)
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