Posada to announce retirement

Baseball Betting Lines

01/23/2012 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees and Jorge Posada have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday, at which time the veteran catcher will announce his retirement.

Posada spent each of his 17 seasons with the Yankees and was one of the cogs that helped the storied franchise to its most recent run of five World Series championships since 1996.

The 40-year-old native of Puerto Rico made his big league debut with New York in 1995 and became a regular part of the lineup in 1998 when the Yankees won the first of three straight World Series titles. He was also the catcher for New York's 2009 championship.

However, Posada was relegated to designated hitter duties in 2011 and struggled in that role. He hit just .235 with 14 homers and 44 runs batted in.

In May, Posada asked out of the lineup before a game against the Boston Red Sox when manager Joe Girardi dropped him to ninth in the batting order. He apologized the next day.

Posada was a five-time All-Star during his career, in which he batted .273 in 1,829 games with 275 homers and 1,065 runs batted in.

Selected by the Yankees in the 24th round of the 1990 draft, Posada is among the top 15 in franchise history in numerous offensive categories. He is eighth in games and home runs, seventh in doubles with 379, 11th in RBI and 14th in hits with 1,664.

Posada appeared in 125 career postseason games and batted .248 with 11 homers and 42 runs batted in. He was the team's top hitter during the 2011 ALDS against Detroit, batting .429 with six hits in 14 at-bats.

Only Hall of Famers Bill Dickey (1,708) and Yogi Berra (1,695) have caught more games for the Yankees than the 1,574 by Posada, who also matched Hall of Famer Johnny Bench's mark of catching at least one game in 17 consecutive seasons with the same team.

Posada also joined Bench, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk and Ivan Rodriguez as the only players to record at least 1,500 hits, 350 doubles, 275 homers and 1,000 RBI while playing at least half of his games as a catcher.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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