Smoltz flirts with no-hitter; Braves down Nats

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2007 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Smoltz nearly etched his name into the history books, tossing seven no-hit innings, as the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 7-1, in the start of a three-game series.

Making the 698th appearance and 457th start of his illustrious career, Smoltz (13-7) threw 70 of his 109 pitches for strikes, walked two and fanned 10, but ran out of gas facing Ronnie Belliard to open the eighth. With a 1-2 count, Belliard laced a hanging breaking ball into right field, ending the no- hit bid and Smoltz's evening. Braves manager Bobby Cox began a slow walk to the mound, signaling to the bullpen for right-hander Peter Moylan, while the crowd of 31,116 at Turner Field gave the 40-year-old Smoltz a standing ovation as he departed.

It was the closest Smoltz has come to a no-hitter since April 30, 1999, when tossed a one-hitter against Cincinnati. It also would've been the second no-no in the majors in less than a week, after Clay Buchholz became the 16th Red Sox pitcher and first rookie in club history to toss a no-hitter last Saturday, as Boston blanked the Baltimore Orioles, 10-0, at Fenway Park.

The hit came an inning after Austin Kearns reached on a hard grounder to short that was knocked down by Yunel Escobar and eventually ruled an error.

Moylan surrendered a one-out, RBI double to Ryan Church that cut the Braves' lead to 5-1, but retired the final two batters in succession before Rafael Soriano worked a perfect ninth.

Chipper Jones had three hits, including a three-run homer, and scored three runs for Atlanta, which has won three of its last four games and sits five games behind San Diego in the NL wild card race. The Padres opened a three- game set in Colorado on Friday night.

Joel Hanrahan (4-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on four hits in just 3 1/3 innings in the loss for the Nationals, who committed a season-high five errors, including three by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

The Braves jumped on the board in the third, taking advantage of a pair of lead-off walks to Willie Harris and Kelly Johnson. Chipper Jones followed, belting a 2-1 pitch into the right field bullpen for a 3-0 lead.

Atlanta tacked on two more in the fourth, as Andruw Jones reached on a throwing error by Zimmerman. Escobar walked, and Smoltz grounded into a fielder's choice that erased Jones at third. Zimmerman made his second error of the inning, however, as he threw the ball away for the second time, advancing the runners to second and third with one out.

Harris came up next, and Hanrahan uncorked a wild pitch that easily scored Escobar, before Smoltz scurried home on Brian Schneider's throwing error.

The drubbing continued in the fifth, as Chipper Jones led off with a base hit and later scored on a two-out single by Jeff Francoeur.

Brian McCann added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 7-0.

Game Notes

Kent Merker was the last Braves pitcher to toss a no-hitter, accomplishing the feat on April 8, 1994 against the Los Angeles Dodgers...The Braves announced time changes for a pair of upcoming games. Friday, September 21 versus Milwaukee moves to a 7:05p.m. (et) start, while Saturday, September 22nd will be nationally broadcast at 3:55p.m...The Braves activated shortstop Edgar Renteria from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game...There was a nine- minute delay in the ninth inning after a security guard was injured tackling a fan who ran onto the field. The security guard eventually got up and walked to a cart without assistance...Washington had a five-game winning streak snapped.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
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.