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Never has a losing night felt like a winner more than yesterday's 1-2-1 showing for our recommended bets. It could have just as easily been an 0-4 nightmare, so as much as we complain about the bitter, terrible beats, we also have to be thankful for the ass-saving wins. Bless you, Gambling Gods.
Remember what we said yesterday about the Gambling Gods? Well, in deference to their limiting our losses yesterday, we happily will sacrifice a 12-pack of Bud Light in their honor (we're drinking the Buds, not destroying them) today.
Yesterday, we had the Yankees-Mets game at under 7.5. With future Hall of Famers Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander mowing down the opposing hitters in two weak lineups, things looked good through six innings with only two total runs having been scored. That's when the genius managers decided that their tired bullpens would be better off taking over from there, and all hell broke loose.
With one out and runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a chopper to short that had zero chance of turning into a double play. Francisco Lindor made a somewhat errant toss to Jeff McNeil at second for the first out, but then McNeil inexplicably tried to complete an impossible double play by throwing to Mark Vientos.
Just as Lindor's toss was a little wild, McNeil's throw bore down and away from the inexperienced first baseman. Vientos stretched far too early and was stuck in his stretched-out position, unable to step toward the throw. Instead, he leaned forward and almost face-planted while reaching for the ball, which eluded him and allowed a run to score.
This is basic fundamental first-base play. McNeil's throw wasn't good, but it was catchable by any high-school first baseman who knew what he was doing around the bag. A first baseman should never stretch before the throw; he should see where the throw is going then step to it. McNeil was charged with an unnecessary error, and the Yankees got an unearned run.
Kiner-Falefa proceeded to steal second, with the throw going into center field, which allowed him to scoot to third.
"Okay, just get the third out and we'll get out of here with three runs through 7-1/2 innings."
Yeah, right.
For some reason, Kiner-Falefa was allowed to wander about 40 feet off third base without so much of a glance in that direction from Mets reliever Jeff Brigham. Not only that, third baseman Eduardo Escobar didn't utter a peep to let his pitcher know what was going on, allowing Kiner-Falefa to take off and steal home as Brigham fired a heat seeker at about 95 mph over the catcher's head.
"Hey, maybe we can get out of here with the score at 3-1?"
We did, but the next thing you knew, after Aaron "Casey Stengel" Boone removed Cole from the game to start the seventh, Yankee hurler Jimmy Cordero, who somehow earned a "hold" for his efforts, drilled Brandon Nimmo with the bases loaded and two outs to make the score 3-2. That was followed by a Starling Marte single that plated the sixth run of the game, but this is where the Gambling Gods intervened.
Nimmo, running with his head down, got over halfway to third base before realizing the runner in front of him had been held by the third-base coach. He retreated hastily to the bag and dove back toward the sack in desperation only to be tagged out as the Yankees threw behind him. Or was he out?
The play was challenged, and it literally appeared as though the call could go either way. It looked like the glove might have touched his chin just before Nimmo's fingertips reached the base, but it was just assumed that a call like this could never go in our favor. But fortunately it did, and the inning ended with the score tied at 3.
The game remained deadlocked heading to extra innings, and of course there was no way that a game with a total of 7.5 would stay under in extras right?
Hellooooooo Gambling Gods!
The Yankees didn't bunt and didn't score. The Mets didn't bunt and struck out to start the inning (thanks for the support Mr. Vientos). Then, up came Nimmo, who could have been the goat for his earlier baserunning blunder, with ghost-runner Escobar on second base.
"Just one run; all we need is one run. No homer. Nothing controversial. Just a single. Please."
It wasn't meant to be a prayer to the Gambling Gods, but you know, whatever it takes. Nimmo proceeded to hit a rocket off lefty Nick Ramirez, who was brought in solely to not let the left-handed batter hit a rocket to win the game.
At this point, everything turned to slow motion. Would he catch it? No, but it definitely was going to be a homer. Or was it? The ball carried and carried and carried, but it soared toward a part of the field where the fence actually angled out and away from home plate slightly.
"Who designed that? Who cares? Yes!"
The ball hit the bottom of the fence. A winner! Maybe?
Escobar got a terrible jump and was barely around third as the relay throw came toward home. This couldn't be happening, could it? Thankfully it wasn't. Escobar scored the winning run, the game stayed under and we won.
Just a few minutes prior to that I watched on ESPN's game tracker as Angels slugger Shohei Ohtani murdered a meaningless two-out, two run homer to make the score 6-3 against the Rangers and give us a push on our over bet in that game.
Those results, paired with Arizona's first-five loss to the Phillies and the Angels' loss as our Dog of the Day, left us at 1-2-1 for the evening. It could have easily been an 0-4 disaster. In fact, it probably should have been an 0-4 night.
Instead, the Gambling Gods smiled upon us just one day after we reminded everyone that they never sleep following a rough night in which we got too cocky too early.
Bless you, Gambling Gods.
Daily Summary 6/13
Remember that most of our bets (unless noted) are flat 1-unit bets. We don't try to hit a home run or get it back all on one swing. The goal is to grind out a profit day to day and week to week and to build our winnings over time.
Recommended Bets:
Yesterday: 1-2-1 (33.3%) -1.17
Overall since June 9: 16-14-1 (53.3%) +0.10 units
Dog of the Day:
0-1 (0.0%)
Overall since June 9: 1-3 (25%) -1.96 units
SPM Edge:
+Yesterday: 0-1-1 (0.0%) -1.00 units
Overall since June 9: 7-8-1 (46.7%) -2.57 units
Stanley Cup Finals Bets:
Overall: 7-3 (70%)