ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball Betting Preview: Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Posted by Andrew Ryan on June 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment
National League Central Division rivals that are trying to find some traction in the MLB betting season duke it out at Miller Park on Wednesday night as the Chicago Cubs face off with the Milwaukee Brewers. Last night, Milwaukee captured a 3-2 victory in a great pitcher’s duel between RHP Yovani Gallardo and LHP Ted Lilly, snapping Chicago’s three game winning streak in this series.
“Big Z” is back, but if he continues pitching as poorly as he did in his first start back from bullpen relegation, RHP Carlos Zambrano won’t be in the Chicago rotation for much longer. The right hander only lasted 4.1 innings in his first start since April 20th, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks in a 3-1 defeat in Houston. Zambrano’s numbers are simply woeful this year, as he is just 1-4 with a 6.14 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting .316 against him, which leaves his WHIP at a miserable 1.75. Against the Brew Crew in his career, “Big Z” is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA, and he has 164 strikeouts and 165.0 frames.
Will the good Randy Wolf or the bad Randy Wolf show up on Wednesday night? The bad one has reared his ugly head in three of his L/5 starts, as he has allowed at least five in each of those downer efforts. However, in the two good ones (home vs. Houston and home vs. New York), Wolf only allowed a total of nine hits and two runs over 12.0 innings of work. Walks have become a major issue for the veteran, as he has issued 37 free passes, an average of just over three per start. There’s a reason that his WHIP is 1.58 when opposing batters are only hitting .279 against him. Plus, Wolf is allowing far too many home runs (10) and not getting nearly enough free outs via the ‘K’ (48) to warrant all of those walks. Wolf is just 4-5 on the season and is only 5-7 in 17 career starts against the Cubs.
This game is a tossup and rightfully so. The Brewers have played simply terrible ball in front of their hometown faithful all season long, but perhaps that victory against the Cubbies last night was just the shot in the arm that they needed to turn things around. We tend to believe that Milwaukee is going to inch closer to the .500 mark at home for the rest of the season, so we’ll back the Brewers tonight.
Selection: Milwaukee Brewers -110 at Sportsbook.com
The Cubs are a terrible 4-13 in their L/17 baseball betting battles against teams with a losing record including last night’s defeat. Sportsbook is your official one stop shop for all things baseball betting related. Be sure to sign up for an account right now!
S.L. Demo pushing to repeal criminal slander and libel law
Deseret News (Salt Lake City) October 19, 2005 | Bob Bernick Jr. Deseret Morning News You should be able to say or write anything you want without fear of going to jail. here defamation of character
So believes state Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, who will introduce a bill in January’s 2006 Legislature to repeal Utah’s current criminal slander and libel law, which is “unconstitutional, antiquated and outdated,” he says.
“You just shouldn’t go to jail for free speech,” says McCoy. “The time for criminalizing speech is over; it’s silly.” He has some good company in his corner — the U.S. Supreme Court and the Utah Supreme Court — which have both struck down criminal libel laws.
Utah prosecutors “would not oppose repealing the criminal libel and slander law,” said Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors.
But McCoy says he’ll also explore repealing Utah’s criminal defamation of character statute, which he opposes because there should be no criminalization of any kind of free speech.
Boyden said prosecutors likely would oppose that, since the criminal defamation law doesn’t have the clear unconstitutional problems that the slander and libel law does.
Utah’s current criminal libel law provides for a class B misdemeanor if convicted — up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
That’s the same penalty for assault, resisting arrest, driving under the influence, reckless driving, possession of under 1 ounce of marijuana, shoplifting goods valued at under $100, trespassing and dog bites — also class B misdemeanors.
“I have a pet peeve: If a law is unconstitutional, it’s deadwood. We should repeal it or fix it,” making it useful again, says McCoy.
Attorney Randy Dryer, a libel expert, agrees with McCoy on getting rid of the state’s criminal libel statute “It’s bad legal policy. It’s bad public policy,” says Dryer, who has taught libel law classes for various news organizations. “If we criminalize speech, half of the Founding Fathers would have been in prison” for criticizing government.
Utah’s criminal libel and defamation statutes have only been used twice in recent years, said Dryer and McCoy.
Five years ago, a Milford High School student wrote nasty comments about his high school principal and others in his community on a personal Web site. The county attorney prosecuted him, and the case ultimately reached the Utah Supreme Court, which struck down the law because it didn’t include basic libel provisions outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court — like proving “actual malice” or having truth as a complete defense, said McCoy.
Local press-freedom attorney Jeff Hunt filed a brief in that case, representing a number of media groups including the national Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “In this day and age, there’s no place for criminalizing speech,” Hunt said.
“We’ve found that these criminal libel and defamation laws have been used to make mischief,” Hunt said. “More often than not a prosecutor (who may stand for election) has a political motivation in filing the case. It has been really abused, and it’s good to get rid of them.” In 1987, former Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon was convicted of defaming a TV reporter. Cannon was indicted by a county grand jury, which brought so many other charges that the Legislature later reformed the grand jury system in Utah after one official called it a “Star Chamber” that unfairly treated citizens. see here defamation of character
Just this summer a Farmington, N.M., man was convicted of criminal libel for carrying a sign in public that called a police officer — who had argued with the man over a traffic incident — a “liar” and a “dirty cop,” reported USA Today.
A Colorado college student was being investigated by police for criminal libel after they seized his computer, which had on it a doctored picture of a college professor disguised as a member of the rock group KISS. The investigation was later dropped and no criminal libel charges filed, the newspaper said.
“Thirty-three other states have repealed their criminal libel and defamation laws, and Utah, now in the minority, should also,” Dryer said.
Bob Bernick Jr. Deseret Morning News
