Rays put win streak on the line in Toronto
Baseball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays bested one of the best pitchers in the majors last night and will try to duplicate that success Tuesday, when they resume a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The Rays knocked around Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay for two runs and five hits over six innings on Monday to win their sixth straight game. Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer and Pat Burrell went deep in the 4-1 victory -- Tampa Bay's eighth in nine tries.
Rays starter Jeff Niemann won his seventh game of the season by holding Toronto to just a run on four hits and two walks over 7 1/3 innings.
"Niemann pitched a great game today," Rays manager Joe Maddon said on the team's site. "He had his curveball working against the lefties, and whenever he does that, he pitches well. He just had great composure throughout. You've got to pitch well to beat Doc (Halladay). You've just got to pitch well, and we did, and that's why we came out on top. He was really good."
Tampa Bay, which is five games off the lead in the AL East, will also visit Texas for three games on its current six-game road trip and will send Matt Garza to the mound Tuesday night. Garza will try to put together back-to-back decent starts after beating the Philadelphia Phillies his previous time out in Wednesday's 7-1 victory.
He was 0-3 in a six-start stretch before holding the Phils to just a run on three hits over eight innings, while striking out seven batters and walking three. Garza improved to 5-5 in 15 starts this season and lowered his earned run average from 3.83 to 3.61.
The right-hander, though, is 1-3 in six road starts this season, but is holding opposing hitters to a .210 batting average. He is 3-3 with a 1.99 ERA in six career starts against Toronto.
Meanwhile, Halladay was making his first start since coming off of the disabled list with a groin injury and fell to 10-2 this season. Halladay, who was aiming for a major league-leading 11th win, fanned seven batters in Toronto's third straight loss and fourth in five tries.
"For the most part, I felt pretty good with everything," Halladay said on the Jays' site. "I was just focusing on hitting spots. I've thrown in the bullpen and everything was fine, so I didn't feel like I hadn't thrown in a long time. I think it's just a matter of the consistency sometimes, falling behind guys. Other than that, I felt good."
Rod Barajas knocked in the lone run for Toronto and Adam Lind finished with a pair of hits. The Blue Jays, who sit seven games behind Boston for the top spot in the AL East, are 3-4 on a nine-game homestand.
Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games with a double last night.
Taking the mound for the Jays tonight will be Scott Richmond, who is 6-4 with a 3.68 ERA in 15 games, 12 of which have been starts, this season. Richmond last toed the rubber on Wednesday versus Cincinnati and held the Reds to a pair of runs on two hits through seven innings of an 8-2 triumph.
Richmond, who is 2-1 in his last three appearances, will make his second career start against Tampa Bay tonight. The right-hander faced the Rays for the first time in a 3-2 loss on July 30, 2008, when he yielded three runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings.
This series is the first time these AL East rivals are meeting in 2009, but Tampa took 11 of the 18 meetings between the clubs a year ago.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hard-throwing right-hander Joba Chamberlain tries again for win No. 1 on his new home field tonight, when the New York Yankees host the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. Chamberlai
<< Indians send Lee to hill vs. White Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lefty Cliff Lee goes for two straight wins over Chicago and
three straight overall when his Cleveland Indians host the White Sox tonight
in the middle game of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
The American Leag
<< Cubs, Pirates resume series in the Steel City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs will try to get back to the .500 mark this
evening, when they resume a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates
at PNC Park.
Chicago ended a two-game losing streak with Monday's 3-1 win over the Pi
<< Boston's Smoltz tries again for win at Baltimore
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Smoltz will be attempting to atone for a shaky debut
in a Boston Red Sox uniform when the star pitcher takes the mound for
tonight's clash with the Baltimore Orioles from Camden Yards.
Smoltz's first major
<< Safina, Venus will clash in Wimbledon semis
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-ranked Dinara Safina and five-time
champion and former world No. 1 Venus Williams were a pair of quarterfinal
winners Tuesday at Wimbledon. The two stars will meet in a marquee semifinal
here on Thursda
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-hander Dan Haren looks for a measure of midseason revenge tonight, when his Arizona Diamondbacks travel to Cincinnati for the opener of a three-game series with the Reds at Great American Ball Park. Haren, a 16-game
Rookies square off in Marlins-Nationals tilt >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of rookies face their respective opponents - and
each other - for the first time tonight, when the Washington Nationals visit
the Florida Marlins for the middle test of a three-game series at Land Shark
Stadium.
Th
Phils head to Atlanta for NL East clash >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies will close out the last portion
of their current road trip with the first of three straight games against the
NL East-rival Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.
Philadelphia is 2 1/2 games ahead of the
Brewers aim to extend Mets' recent misery >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Milwaukee Brewers are improving their stance in
the National League Central, they're making it very difficult for the New York
Mets to climb the NL East standings.
The NL Central-leading Brewers will resume a thr
Johnson, Giants vie for another win over reeling Cards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ageless lefty Randy Johnson seeks a third straight win and
a fifth in six decisions tonight, when the San Francisco Giants visit Busch
Stadium for game two of four against the host St. Louis Cardinals.
The Giants won the o
Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.