Archive for September, 2008
The New York Yankees look like they flew to Detroit on a broom rather then a jet and they may leave the wooden sweeper when they depart the motor city just before midnight tonight.
The pinstripers have sent an emphatic message to the upstart bengals, that they are the bullies of the American East. I have been propping the Tigers pitching but both the starters and relievers have been awful this week, being outscored 21-7.
While we are blasting the pitchers, the offense must have the finger pointed at them as seven runs in three games against the anemic Yankee pitching is embarrassing.
The Tigers hit five consecutive grounders to Miguel Cairo in the first and second innings to give him five assists and a putout on Detroit’s first six batters.
Detroit’s Nate Robertson (5-3) allowed six runs and 10 hits, walking two and striking out seven in 8 2-3 innings.
Certainly have to question Angel’s general manager Bill Stoneman’s decision to award pitcher Kelvim Escobar a whopping $28 million for three years. The guy is only three games over .500 (77-74) and is 19-19 in his career with the Angels.
Escobar gets a $1.5 million signing bonus, $8.5 million in 2007, $9 million in 2008 and $9.5 million in 2009.
The pitcher signed a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the Angels on Nov. 24, 2003, after pitching five full seasons and parts of two others with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was 11-12 with a 3.93 ERA in 33 starts in 2004 and 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA in seven starts and nine relief appearances last season.
I mean the entire 25 man roster of Florida is getting $14 million and that includes all star Dontrelle Willis, while Escobar is grabbing $9 million. Go figure?
Three major components of their team’s ultimate success were reported suffering from injuries on Wednesday. Jake Peavey the stud of the Padres starting staff, Vernon Wells the star center fielder of the Jays and Jim Edmonds the leader of the Cardinals outfielder.
Bob Acton
The history of Craps dates back to a dice game called Hazard, which dates back to Bernard de Mandeville in New Orleans in 1813. Hazard is thought to be a descendant of Azzahr, meaning ‘the die’-a game played by Arabs.
The game evolved as it traveled from the Arab countries to France and then England. By the early 1700s, formal rules for Hazard had been established. France adopted the English version of Hazard and is thought to have been brought to America by early French settlers. In the mid-1700s, when the English defeated the French in Canada, the French settlers relocated to Louisiana. Dice were played on river boats, clubs and wharfs and a simplified ‘American’ version of Craps was developed. The game moved west along with the frontier and is a popular game today that is played all over the United States and around the world.
The name ‘Craps’ is believed to be a French pronunciation of the word crabs, which means a pair of ones. There are two basic forms of Craps that are played-street Craps and bank Craps. Street caps, aptly named because it is played on the streets is where a shooter establishes a point and then tries to make that point. The betting is made either for or against the shooter and someone must cover the bet in order for the game to continue.
In bank Craps, which is the common game, played in casinos, the casino banks the game. The players play against the house-the casino covers all of the bets of all of the players. Craps used to be a quite popular game but in the last 20 years had divided itself and other games, such as poker and black jack became more popular. However, Craps is seeing a come back in popularity once again in online casinos and in real casinos.
Craps is based on a party at the table. These are the players at the casino that you often hear shouting at each other, at the table and dice-it’s a team sport-you get to play along with other players. The appeal of Craps being a team effort is what appeals to many people, however for others; the essence of the game is to make money, and lots of it. At a Craps table, it is possible to make quite a lot of money playing. Craps can be a confusing game to play at first sight. Craps looks like a difficult game to grasp however once you understand the concepts of Craps and you get the hang of the game; it is quite easy to follow.