News » My heart bet on the

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants lost another player and the New York Mets took a step toward getting one back as the clubs prepared for a three-game series that begins Friday night with one still clinging to a sliver of playoff hope.The Giants (67-68) began Thursday — an off day for both teams — seven games back in the National League West and 7 1/2 behind Milwaukee for the second NL wild-card spot http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-nomar-garciaparra-jersey , then fell another half-game back of the Brewers (75-60) after Milwaukee beat the Cincinnati Reds in an afternoon affair.Meanwhile, the Giants learned they’d also lost center fielder Steven Duggar, their hottest hitter of late, for the rest of the season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.Article continues below ...“The timing is awful,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Duggar, who provided difference-making hits in wins over Texas on Sunday and Arizona on Monday. “He was really in a good place.”The three games against the Mets, the fourth-place team in the NL East, provide a short break from a heavyweight-laden September schedule in which the Giants will go up against teams ahead of them in the standings — Colorado, Milwaukee Christian Vazquez Jersey , Atlanta and Colorado again — for 12 straight games starting Monday.The Mets have done a good job playing spoiler while encountering a rough patch of their own schedule. They split four games against the Giants last week in New York as part of an 8-7 run against Philadelphia (3-2), San Francisco (2-2), Washington (2-1) and the Chicago Cubs (1-2).In the meantime, the Mets have been trying to get their own house in order, sending former All-Star third baseman David Wright to the minors in his bid to play this season despite recent neck, back and shoulder surgeries.Wright, who went 1-for-9 in two games for Triple-A Las Vegas this week, has rejoined the parent club in San Francisco, but solely to continue rehab for the time being.“We just haven’t seen that level of consistency of playing on a quantity or quality at this point http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-fred-lynn-jersey ,” Mets interim general manager John Ricco said this week, indicating that reinstating Wright to the major-league roster — even as they expand Saturday — was no sure thing.“Quite frankly as this point,” Ricco continued, “he hasn’t been able to make some of the benchmarks that were laid out for him (as he began his rehab stint).”Wright hasn’t played in a major-league game since May 2016.Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.46 ERA), dealt from the Giants to the Mets for Carlos Beltran in 2011, will make his third career start in San Francisco since the trade. He’s 1-1 with a 4.22 ERA in the first two.The former No. 6 overall pick of the 2009 draft by the Giants has lived up to the early projections since the All-Star break, a stretch during which he has the second-best ERA in the NL (1.17) in seven starts.He’s 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA in five lifetime starts against the Giants.Rookie left-hander Andrew Suarez (5-9, 4.42) Wade Boggs Jersey , coming off seven shutout innings in a 5-3 win over Texas last Saturday, is scheduled to open the series for the Giants. He has never faced the Mets. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) Resorts Casino Hotel and DraftKings on Wednesday received approval to become the first companies to offer online and mobile sports betting in New Jersey.The state Division of Gaming Enforcement gave approval to the casino and its Boston-based online partner to launch an invitation-only version of mobile sports betting, which will undergo several days of testing before becoming fully available. Requests for invitations to participate can be made at draftkings.com.A launch was expected to happen Wednesday afternoon or evening.The companies won a heated race to be first to market with mobile and online sports betting, which is widely seen as the most promising segment of the nascent sports betting market. New Jersey regulators are considering mobile applications from several other companies and could soon approve additional online providers.Four casinos and two horse tracks currently offer in-person sports betting.Resorts officials declined to comment on Wednesday’s launch, which came hours after Harrah’s became the fourth Atlantic City casino to offer sports betting: A Frank Sinatra impersonator asked Luck to be a lady as he bet on the New York Yankees, and an Elvis impersonator thanked the clerk very much for handing him a similar bet slip.Harrah’s started taking sports bets two days after its sister property, Bally’s, did http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-carlton-fisk-jersey , joining the Borgata, Ocean Resort, Bally’s and two horse racing tracks, the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park.”I did one with my heart and one with my head,” said James Prendergast, of Washington Township in Warren County. ”My heart bet on the (New York) Giants to win the Super Bowl, and my head bet on the (Houston) Texans.”Longtime Harrah’s customer Alan Kallman, of Monroe Township, placed the first sports bet at Harrah’s Pedro Martinez Jersey , putting $25 on the Yankees to win the World Series – after his wife talked him out of betting on the Boston Red Sox.”There’s a saying, Alan: Happy wife, happy life,” said Kevin Ortzman, Atlantic City president of Caesars Entertainment, which owns Harrah’s, Bally’s and Caesars.Ortzman said Bally’s sports book ”has met our expectations” during its first two days of operation, but he would not say how much in bets it had taken in.New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in May clearing the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting should they choose to do so.—Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC