Tell me if you’re heard this one before: Doc Halladay puts on a solid or great performance but the Jays still manage to blow it on MLB odds. In his first start in over two weeks, Roy gave up just five hits and two runs in six innings of work against the Rays. And, of course, Toronto scored just one run and lost the game 4-1.

That said, I’m too pissy to post; I feel like I’ve been punched in the face. Or better yet, beaned in the face. Thus, I give you this gallery of people being hit in the face with balls. Enjoy.

MLB odds. Toronto Blue Jays. Doc. Fucking. Halladay.

Yep, the Doctor is in. After missing two straight starts with a groin injury, Roy Halladay will take the mound tonight against Jeff Niemann (6-4) and the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite the missed time, Halladay remains tied for first in the AL with 10 wins, in the top-10 for strikeouts and innings pitched, and first in the Majors in overall awesomeness.

I suppose a little rust might be expected, but in Halladay We Trust, MLB betting fans. Doc has lost just one decision all year, way back on April 21. I think he keeps the magic rolling.

And one other quick note regarding NFL odds (sort of): apparently, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been spending a little friendly time with model Julie Henderson. Well done, No. 12. You just keep making it easier and easier to forget that fuckwad Favre.

Many sportsbook fans probably have tonight circled on their calendars, as the NBA draft gets under way. As a Raptors fan I’m quite curious to see how things will pan out but, at this particular moment, I’ve got something on my mind besides basketball or MLB odds: hockey.

The NHL draft is tomorrow which is a pretty big deal for Leafs backers, as this is Brian Burke’s first chance to really start messing with the roster. Look, I think hockey coverage in Canada is just absurd–check out TSN’s front page today and you’ll be hardpressed to realize the basketball draft is this evening–but this little tidbit has got me fired up a day early:

“Sources tell TSN the Toronto Maple Leafs have received what the team considers to be a significant offer for defenceman Tomas Kaberle.”

Hmmm. Intesting. Player? Pick? Baseless rumor? We’ll see, I suppose. Hopefully sooner than later.

Anyway, let’s get off track for a second and talk about one of my favorite writers, Bill Simmons (who, if his work is any indication, is a bit of an online betting fan himself). This week he wrote a nine-billion word column about how shitty the Clippers are. Well apparently today Mike Dunleavy called Simmons a joke writer and Bill, well, lost his shit. He’s been bombarding Twitter with Dunleavy jokes ever since. As Bill would say, good times.

Some interesting news in Wimbledon odds as Maria Sharapova was ousted from the tournament. The Tennis Princess was knocked off by Gisela Dulko, also known as The Incredible Dulk (nice), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. That makes it two years straight Sharapova was beaten in the second round of Wimbledon.

At this point, though, shouldn’t Wimbledon betting fans be wondering if Sharapova is just a slightly more talented, slightly less attractive version of Anna Kournakova? Does she really deserve the widespread attention she gets? She’s not THAT good. At least I didn’t think so until I just looked her up on Wiki now. I’m quite surprised to see she has four Grand Slam titles; I thought she only had a pair (which, of course, puts her miles ahead of Kournakova in most people’s books).

It’s strange, as I was about to go on an anti-Sharapova rant but, after further inspection of her stats, she’s actually pretty damn good. I suppose it’s just more the fact that she’s never really done it for me, while a lot of people absolutely salivate over her (she has ass-eyes). Cute girl, but far from on Kournakova’s level. Also, proves I don’t know shit about tennis betting.

Ok, one quick note on MLB odds before I take off–how about last night’s post, eh? Brian Tallet? Always gives you a chance to win? Six innings of shutout baseball? You like that? Do ya? Do ya? Ok good. As for tonight… Scott Richmond? Whatever.

Slow news day so I’ll probably just talk about a little baseball betting. First, though, I’d like to quickly mention the hardwood. A lot of people are fired up for NBA draft odds and, admittedly, I haven’t been following them too closely. However there was an interesting trade today–the Spurs sent Bruce Bowen, Fabrico Olberto and Kurt Thomas to the Bucks for Richard Jefferson.

I like the deal. It’s a “win now” trade without sacrificing the future. Yeah, the Spurs take on a disgusting boatload of salary (Jefferson makes 29 million over the next two years) but they now have a formidable top-four in Jefferson, Tim Dunan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Now San Antonio can make a push while Duncan still has something left in the tank. For the record, Jefferson was decent last season, averaging 19 points per game and playing in every contest.

Ok, let’s talk a little MLB odds. Brian Tallet (4-4) gets the call for the Jays as they take on Cincinatti. I have to say, I’ve been really impressed with Tallet this season. Well… not impressed per se, but he’s delivered a very solid performance to date and I think he deserves credit for that.

Tallet was forced from the bullpen to starter thanks to injuries and to be honest, he’s given the Jays a chance to win every five days. Since the beginning of May he’s had just two starts where he’s given up more than three runs, a stretch of 10 games. He might be falling back to earth a little bit now, as he’s been hit pretty hard in two of his last four starts, but at least in the other two June outings he gave up just one run. Can you ask much more from a journeyman with average stuff? I don’t think so. No, he’s not a dominant force on MLB lines, but the’s giving Toronto a shot to win more often than not.

I’ve got a mixed bag of thoughts today, so let’s just plow through it:

• The US Open is over, and I bet there weren’t many golf betting fans expecting Lucas Glover to win the tourney. Mickelson made things interesting down the stretch, I guess, but it’s hard for me to get too into it unless Tiger is involved. Yeah, I’m a fairweather golf fan, I admit it.

• Wimbledon odds are under way. Roger Federer won his first match 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 over Yen-hsun Lu. Federer actually fell behind 3-2 early on and he missed on his first four break-point opportunities, but it didn’t take him much longer to get things going and dominating down the stretch. I probably won’t check in with Wimbledon too much, but I will keep an eye out on Federer.

• Some football news that won’t affect NFL odds but are a bit concerning for me personally: Packers officials are a little bit concerned about the team’s financial situation in the wake of the recession. I’m a Green Bay fan and, for those of you who don’t know, the Packers are a publicly traded team–i.e. it has stockholders versus one owner. The good news is Green Bay made money last year. The bad news is its profits were down $19.4 million from the previous fiscal year. The Pack is especially concerned player costs are growing much faster than revenues (hardcore NFL betting fans are probably aware we’re looking at a work stoppage in a few years), so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this situation.

US Open odds update: Bland, boring Canadian Mike Weir is off to a nice lead. Big Tits is playing well. Tiger is playing pretty poorly.

MLB odds update: Jays still suck.

Friday update: Fuck and yeah. The weekend is here and this calls for a celebration. Thus, I give the above video. Caution: this video may not be suitable for minors and is fucking awesome. Let’s regroup on Monday.

Well, everyone was all gungho for US Open odds and… we get rained out. Huh. That was a little anticlimatic, eh? Tiger is +1 after six holes. No official word yet on how they’re going to make it up, but sounds like they’re just going to try to bump everything up as fast as they can and maybe have a few extra holes left over on Sunday. We’ll see. In honor of this rained out US Open betting opportunity, I’ve posted a great video above starring Jon Papelbon (who, despite playing for Boston, is fucking awesome) and Manny Delcarmen. Apparently they roll this during rain delays at Fenway. Good stuff.

Speaking of MLB odds, I sort of dropped the ball and didn’t realize the Jays were playing this afternoon until the eigth inning. Imagine how surprised I was to learn Vernon Wells had THREE FUCKING HITS and a couple of ribbies. Wow, congratualtions Mr. Wells, you’ve almost got that average back up to .250! What’s that? It’s the Mayor on the line? He wants to give you the key to the city? Amazing!

And, as I’m typing this post, Toronto is in the process of blowing a one-run lead. Do I need to point out BJ Ryan is prominently involved? Sigh.

I originally intended on writing about US Open odds, what with the tournament starting tomorrow and all, but I don’t know… what’s the point? I’m just going to pick Tiger anyway. I suppose Phil Mickelson might dig deep and put on an emotional performance in the wake of his wife’s breast cancer diagnoses, but Tiger’s just too good. Sorry, Phil.

Speaking of fat, big-titted losers, I’ve got a fun little bit about John Kruk for you baseball betting fans. The former Phillies slugger was writing a piece for ESPN and, while discussing former teammate Ozzie Guillen, chipped in a few thoughts on Wrigley Field:

“You get a lot of complaints from the fans who sit right on top of you, and they can even throw beer at you when you go close to the fence to catch a ball. Some of the fans can say things to you to make you pretty angry. Wrigley Field is packed almost every game and, up to the last five or six years, the fans were really bad. Going to a Cubs game is like an event. It’s like a family barbecue, and everyone shows up.”

Did John Kruk just liken delinquent Wrigley Field fans to a family barbecue? And isn’t that EXACTLY how you picture every Kruk family barbecue? A bunch of overweight slobs who have too much to drink, get surly, throw beers on each other and curse each other out? Maybe Jon pushes Uncle Ted into the hedge after an argument over who cooks a better steak? I wouldn’t consider listening to Kruk for advice on MLB odds, but I’m sure his family barbecues are a riot.

While we’re on the topic of baseball I guess I should talk about the Jays, but… meh. Wake me when Doc gets back to the hill; it’s just hard to believe the season isn’t over when they’re already in danger of dropping to fourth in the AL East (though, I’ll give Ricky Romero credit for another good start last night–7 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 9 K and just two walks). If you are looking for a baseball fix right now I’d suggest some College World Series odds; I haven’t followed the tourney much to this point, but it’s worth flipping on during comericals.

Well, hockey and basketball are done, meaning it’s time to shift attention heavily in the direction of MLB odds. Tomorrow I’ll probably get to some US Open betting, but for now I want to stick to baseball and a nice little story out of Iowa.

In a high school game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington, umpire Don Briggs ejected the entire crowd of attendees. Yes, that’s right–the entire crowd! Apparently the crowd of 100-plus was being unruly, so Donnie Boy gave the whole lot of them the heave-ho. The crowd was “unruly, yelling and arguing.” Well why don’t you CALL A FUCKING STRIKE, UMP! Seriously… yelling and arguing? Something tells me this guy got put in his place by the wife the day before and he needed a little ego boost. Good stuff.

Anyway, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the groin injury God suffered on Friday. Man, what a panic attack that was Friday. I was at the bar watching Game 7 with some friends but the Jays game was on a small TV. We weren’t really paying attention until we noticed Doc was NOT pitching… despite it only being the fourth inning and a one-run game. It’s going to be a real shame if he misses significant time, as he was arguably in the midst of his best season (10-1, 2.53 in 14 starts). In the grand scheme of things, I guess it doesn’t matter; the Jays have lost four straight and are tied now tied with Tampa in the AL East. Fourth place, here we come!

Alright, enough whining. We’ll cover some US Open or Wimbledon odds tomorrow.