A lot has been made about what a historic weekend this was for baseball. Barry Bonds has been chasing Hank Aaron's career home run mark of 755 while Alex Rodriguez was also closing in on joining the 500 club. On Saturday afternoon, A-Rod hit his 500th while Bonds hit No. 755 later that same night in his first at-bat, but he wasn't able to break the record.
   With so much media coverage about Bonds chasing Aaron since last year, a lot of people were probably surprised that Rodriguez reached the milestone first, but the events of Saturday actually concluded a proposition wager offered earlier this season in Las Vegas.
   After Rodriguez got off to a hot start in April, the Wynn sports book posted a prop on which would happen first: Rodriguez reaching 500 or Bonds passing Aaron. When Rodriguez was 22 short of 500 and Bonds was 15 short of Aaron, the Wynn made A-Rod a -450 favorite partly because he was on such a hot pace but also because Bonds takes a lot of days off.
   The bet went as high as Rodriguez -500 and then was taken down when Bonds started going long stretches without homering, but he rallied and it was a bit of an upset that it ended up being so close, though A-Rod backers got the money.
 And, no, I didn't see any props out there about Tom Glavine reaching 300 career wins, which happened Sunday, before Bonds hit No. 756. Bonds sat out Sunday's game in San Diego and will get another crack at passing Aaron at home vs. the Nationals the next three days.

Steelers easily cover
 
   Sunday's Hall of Fame Game pretty much went as bettors anticipated as the Steelers defeated the Saints 20-7 in Canton, Ohio, to kick off the NFL exhibition season. The Steelers opened as 2.5-point favorites in Las Vegas and were bet to -3 at nearly every sports book in town, and the total, which ranged from 34 to 35, was bet down to 33 at several books.
   The Steelers' starters took their opening possession 80 yards in six plays, capped by a Najeh Davenport's 4-yard run for a 7-0 lead. That was all the action for the first string. The backups added another touchdown and a field goal to take a 17-0 lead at halftime. That was right on pace with the full-game total, but as is often the case in preseason games, the offenses were less in sync in the second half and the only scoring was a New Orleans touchdown and a Pittsburgh field goal.
   The Saints have to turn around and play at home Friday night vs. the Bills. Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which provides odds for the majority of Nevada's legal sports books, made the Saints a 4-point favorite. The Steelers play at home Saturday night vs. the Packers and are favored by 4.5. The rest of this weekend's games have been up for nearly two weeks.

Tiger shreds Sabbatini

   Heading into the Bridgestone Invitational last week, Tiger Woods was the 5-2 favorite and Rory Sabbatini was a 60-1 longshot. Early in the tournament, Sabbatini looked like the favorite with back-to-back 67s Thursday and Friday on the par-70 course in Akron, Ohio, but Woods was in the hunt as usual and only one shot behind heading into Sunday. Much has been made about Sabbatini's war of words with Woods this spring, and Tiger, wearing his customary red shirt, put on a dominating display Sunday to shoot 5-under par (while Sabbatini was 4-over) to win by an amazing eight strokes. The moral of the story is don't pull a Tiger by the tail.
   That sets up Woods for the PGA Championship this Thursday through Sunday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. After being offered at 3-1 last week at the Las Vegas Hilton, the odds on Woods have been lowered to 2-1 in anticipation of a lot of people loading up on him off that performance. Phil Mickelson is a distant second choice at 15-1, with Jim Furyk, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh at 20-1, Justin Rose at 25-1, and Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen at 30-1. Sabbatini has been lowered from 60-1 to 50-1.