Beckett wins No. 13, Lugo slams BoSox over ChiSox

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Beckett struck out 10 over six innings and Boston drilled the Chicago White Sox, 10-3 in a game that saw a home run call blown, leading to the ejection of Red Sox manager Terry Francona in the first inning.

Coco Crisp stroked the go-ahead three-run triple in the fifth inning and Julio Lugo had three hits, including a grand slam in the eighth, for the Red Sox, who snapped a three-game skid.

Beckett (13-3) rebounded from a loss against Toronto and joined the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano atop the majors' victory list this year.

Jim Thome blasted a three-run homer for the White Sox, who had a two-game winning streak broken. Chicago won the opener of the four-game series, 4-2, on Thursday, but Jose Contreras (5-12) surrendered 10 hits and 10 runs over 7 1/3 innings a night later. Contreras, who leads the American League in defeats, dropped his fifth consecutive start and has lost eight of his last nine decisions.

David Ortiz walked with two outs and Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch in the Boston first. J.D. Drew followed with a deep drive to the wall in left-center field. The ball bounced over the top of the wall and hit a protective panel in front of where fans sit atop the Green Monster before bounding back to the field, but instead of a double should have been ruled a homer. Ortiz scored, but Ramirez was thrown out at the plate.

Francona vehemently argued, as replays showed the ball went over the wall, but Boston's manager was ejected by third base umpire Tim McClelland. Francona then tried arguing with second base umpire Paul Schrieber, but the call remained.

Juan Uribe and Jerry Owens singled to start the top of the third, and one out later, Thome belted his 16th homer of the season, a blast to center field for a 3-1 White Sox lead.

However, the Red Sox went ahead for good with a four-run fifth. Jason Varitek walked and Eric Hinske bunted for a hit toward a vacated left side of the infield. Lugo then bunted back to Contreras, who threw high to first, loading the bases. Crisp then tripled down the right field line, and scored one out later on an Ortiz single to right. Ortiz was thrown out trying for extra bases, leaving the Red Sox with a 5-3 lead.

Boston poured it on with five runs in the eighth. Ramirez singled, Drew doubled and Mike Lowell walked to fill the bases. Varitek then lofted a sacrifice fly to right. Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch before Lugo blasted an offering from Contreras well over the high wall in left.

Game Notes

Lugo has a 10-game hitting streak...Boston's Mike Timlin threw a scoreless seventh inning and hasn't allowed a run in his last 14 2/3 frames.

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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.