Bonds on 3-2 pitch in the fifth vs. a lefty
When Barry Bonds hit career home run No. 756 on Tuesday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco in the fifth inning on a 3-2 pitch from Washington left-hander Mike Bacsik, there was a mad scramble in the right-center-field bleachers for the coveted ball. On sports recap shows, there was a scramble to put the record-breaking feat in the context of the so-called steroids era.
In my home office, I scrambled to the pile of odds sheets next to my computer. It's a pile that has future-book odds in every sport from most Las Vegas sports books. I grab them as I make my weekly or bi-weekly rounds and I use them when I want to go back and find specific odds from a specific point in time.
Mixed in that pile, I knew I had a sheet from Station Casinos with proposition wagers on Bonds' 756th homer, specifically whether it would be vs. a righty or lefty, in what inning it would be and on what count. The bets seemed silly when I first saw the odds sheet at the Santa Fe Station nearly a month ago, but as Bonds was celebrating with his family and watching Hank Aaron on the video screen, those odds were the most important numbers in my mind. I'm sure there were other bettors in town doing the same thing.
So, for the record (pun intended):
* It was a +140 underdog that Bonds would hit No. 756 vs. a southpaw. A righty was the logical -170 favorite since there are more righties than lefties, plus there's the whole theory that left-handed batters have a harder time hitting pitches thrown by lefties.
* The odds were 9-2 that Bonds would break the record in the fifth inning. The first and second innings were 7-2, while the sixth was 4-1.
* Finally, it was 6-1 that it would be a full count. "1 ball, 1 strike" was the 3-1 favorite.
As I'll undoubtedly point out many times . . . that's a perspective you're not likely to get at any other website.
Please put your e-mail address in the "Subscribe" box to receive stories like these from a sports betting point of view (aka, the ViewFromVegas) as soon as they're posted.
In my home office, I scrambled to the pile of odds sheets next to my computer. It's a pile that has future-book odds in every sport from most Las Vegas sports books. I grab them as I make my weekly or bi-weekly rounds and I use them when I want to go back and find specific odds from a specific point in time.
Mixed in that pile, I knew I had a sheet from Station Casinos with proposition wagers on Bonds' 756th homer, specifically whether it would be vs. a righty or lefty, in what inning it would be and on what count. The bets seemed silly when I first saw the odds sheet at the Santa Fe Station nearly a month ago, but as Bonds was celebrating with his family and watching Hank Aaron on the video screen, those odds were the most important numbers in my mind. I'm sure there were other bettors in town doing the same thing.
So, for the record (pun intended):
* It was a +140 underdog that Bonds would hit No. 756 vs. a southpaw. A righty was the logical -170 favorite since there are more righties than lefties, plus there's the whole theory that left-handed batters have a harder time hitting pitches thrown by lefties.
* The odds were 9-2 that Bonds would break the record in the fifth inning. The first and second innings were 7-2, while the sixth was 4-1.
* Finally, it was 6-1 that it would be a full count. "1 ball, 1 strike" was the 3-1 favorite.
As I'll undoubtedly point out many times . . . that's a perspective you're not likely to get at any other website.
Please put your e-mail address in the "Subscribe" box to receive stories like these from a sports betting point of view (aka, the ViewFromVegas) as soon as they're posted.
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