A-Rod announcement takes away from Boston victory

Baseball Betting Lines

10/29/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - First of all, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox and their fans on their second World Series title in four years. They were the best team during the regular season, and were clearly the best team in these playoffs.

People can blame the eight-day layoff all they want, the Colorado Rockies were nowhere near the class of the Boston Red Sox were, and it showed.

And unless you are a card-carrying member of Red Sox Nation, I have some bad news for you. The Red Sox are not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, they may even be better next year than they were this year.

But unfortunately, for fans of not only the Red Sox but baseball in general, Boston's win was upstaged by the announcement midway through last night's clinching win that Alex Rodriguez has decided to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees and become a free agent.

How insecure is Rodriguez? Is he that starved for attention that he had to make this announcement when it became clear that the World Series was over? It's really a despicable move. Why should anyone expect anything less from him at this point, though?

So instead of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck praising a Red Sox team that has now won eight straight World Series games, they were forced to talk about A-Rod, who obviously thinks he is bigger than the game at this point.

Even the sport's most honored and recognized team had enough respect to hold off on announcing their new manager until after the Fall Classic is over.

And I don't want to hear people blaming Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras for this either. Sure he is a creep, and I am positive he was the orchestrator of it all, but A-Rod is 32 years old. He is old enough to make his own decisions, but he continues to be Knucklehead Smiff to Boras' Paul Winchell.

Now where does he go? The Yankees have said from the beginning they will not pursue him if he leaves. There are only a handful of teams that can sign him.

Boston is going to have an opening at third base, as World Series MVP Mike Lowell can become a free agent. Could the Red Sox re-sign Lowell and bring Rodriguez in to play short? That is possible, considering Julio Lugo proved to be a bust at short this year. But do they really want to tinker with a good thing by bringing him in?

Most people seem to agree Rodriguez will land out on the West Coast somewhere. I thought all along he would go to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. But someone mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers to me last week. I could see that. The bright lights of LA are certainly attractive to Team A- Rod, but will the Dodgers deal with Boras after he spurned them last winter with J.D. Drew?

No matter where he lands, Rodriguez is about to play for his third team in six seasons. How is that even possible? He is the best player I have ever seen and probably ever will. And chances are he will move again at some point in his career.

Sadly for A-Rod, his Hall of Fame plaque is going to mention his record- setting contracts along with his unbelievable numbers. The one thing that could be missing, though, is any mention of World Series championships.

As a baseball fan this all makes me sick. Do yourself a favor and listen to Peter Gammons' comments after last night's game, as he was forced to talk about the Rodriguez situation. You can hear the disdain for Rodriguez and Boras in his voice.

Nobody argues that Rodriguez is anything other than great, but he really rubbed people the wrong way with this charade. Not to mention the fact that he comes off as such a phony. All along he reiterated the fact that New York is where he wanted to be. Yet he didn't even give the Yankees the courtesy of hearing any offer they may have made, and opted out literally the second he had the chance.

I hope the Yankees stick to their guns and get out of the bidding entirely.

Sad thing is someone is going to ante up for Rodriguez. And it will probably be a team you least expect, like the Texas Rangers were back in 2001. But, as Gammons said last night it is "Buyer Beware" with him. There is a reason he has never played in a World Series. And believe this - unlike the way teams had been lining up for his services in a trade, they will now be far less likely to take him off the hands of whatever club next wins his services three years down the road.

Enough about him, though, I am pretty sure we are going to talk about him well into the New Year. Today is the day to celebrate the Red Sox.

I grew up rooting for the New York Yankees and still do. But even I was happy to see the Red Sox win last night. Like the Yankees teams of the mid-90's, this Boston group is a tough team to root against. Unless of course it is Curt Schilling, who is every bit as phony as A-Rod. But that is neither here nor there.

Terry Francona reminds me a little bit of Joe Torre. He obviously brings more to the table than just the x's and o's. He knows how to deal with these megastars. Let's face it, these days the Red Sox locker room is not all that much different the Yankees.

And as I said earlier, this Red Sox team is not going anywhere. Dustin Pedroia is going to be the AL Rookie of the Year and a couple of his native Japanese teammates are going to be right behind him in the voting. Jacoby Ellsbury could be the Rookie of the Year next season, and if he isn't the odds-on favorite to win the award, then right-hander Clay Buchholz probably will be.

Jon Lester is a stud and will probably take the rotation spot left by Schilling, who will no doubt bolt.

You mix those youngsters in with the likes of Josh Beckett, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and even J.D. Drew, and you may have a bona fide dynasty on your hands.

Speaking of Lester, how can you not get into that story? Here he was last year at this time with not only his baseball future in doubt but his life as well, after being diagnosed with cancer. A year later, he is the winning pitcher in Boston's sweeping World Series win.

That is what we should be reading about today. But instead, the focus of the baseball world is on the biggest phony in all of sports - Alex Rodriguez.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.