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07/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees were able to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners with yesterday's win. They had to do the exact same thing the last time the Toronto Blue Jays were on the schedule.
The defending World Series champions will square off with the AL East-rival Blue Jays this afternoon in the opener of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. New York, which is coming off Thursday's 4-2 victory versus Seattle, salvaged the finale of a three-game series in Toronto back on June 6.
Toronto has won four of the past six matchups with the division-leading Yankees, winners in seven of their last 11 contests. CC Sabathia was able to pull his team to victory by winning his sixth straight start, allowing just two runs -- one earned -- and five hits through eight innings. Mariano Rivera closed the door in the ninth for his 18th save.
Slugging third baseman Alex Rodriguez belted a two-run homer off Mariners reliever David Aardsma to snap a tie in the eighth inning and now has 595 for his career. He will eventually be the seventh member of the 600-homer club, joining Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa. Robinson Cano, who is batting an MLB-best .353, homered and Mark Teixeira collected two hits and an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 12 games for New York, which is 1 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East and two games in front of Tampa Bay.
"First of all, we ran into a wave of great pitching here on the last two nights," Rodriguez said. "It was a fastball, a fastball up. The first pitch I swung at was a little late, then I made an adjustment."
Speaking of adjustments, the Yankees hope that right-hander A.J. Burnett can snap out of his current funk when he takes the hill Friday. Burnett opened the 2010 season 6-2 with a 3.28 earned run average in his first 11 starts, but has faltered since. He has lost his last five starts to go along with an 11.35 earned run average and will try for his first win since May 30.
Burnett has allowed six or more runs in four of his previous five outings and is coming off a horrendous road performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday. He went a season-low three innings and gave up six runs on six hits and six walks in the 9-4 setback. He hopes to rebound tonight at Yankee Stadium, where he is 3-2 in six starts.
The righty will face his former team, the Blue Jays, for the sixth time in his career and is 2-2 with a 4.29 ERA in five career starts against them. Burnett was roughed up by Toronto on June 4 this season in a 6-1 loss, as he permitted six runs and six hits in six frames.
Toronto has lost five in a row and was just swept in four games at Cleveland. The Indians completed the sweep with Thursday's 6-1 triumph, while Jays starter Shaun Marcum suffered the loss for allowing six runs -- five earned -- on five hits and three walks in four innings.
"Walks obviously kill you and it kills you even more when you don't locate a pitch and they hit it for a three-run homer," said Marcum. "That's something I've been struggling with for the last few starts, walking people, and it's something I obviously have to get better at."
Aaron Hill had two hits and drove in the only run for the Blue Jays. They are 1-6 on a 10-game road trip.
Toronto starter Brett Cecil hopes to break out of his slump when he takes the Yankee Stadium mound Friday. Cecil had won five straight starts before losing his last three trips to the hill to go along with a 9.19 earned run average.
Cecil was pounded by Philadelphia the previous time out in Sunday's 11-2 loss, as he permitted seven runs -- five earned -- on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. The left-hander, who has surrendered at least five runs in three straight appearances, is 5-2 in seven road starts this season. Cecil is also 1-1 with a 6.19 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees and beat them on June 4 this season with eight innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 victory.
<< Flames sign Jackman, Ivanans
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames have signed forwards Tim
Jackman and Raitis Ivanans to two-year contracts, the club announced Friday.
Jackman, 28, had spent the last three seasons with the New York Islanders, and
posted
<< Reds, Cubs resume set at Wrigley
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A current veteran Cincinnati pitcher squares off against a
former veteran Cincinnati pitcher today when the Reds visit Wrigley Field to
meet the Chicago Cubs in game two of a four-game series.
The Reds won Thursday's open
<< Moyer tries to get Phils on track in Steel City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After closing out May with three straight losses, the month
of June was a different story for Phillies veteran Jamie Moyer. Moyer will
look to continue his success in July when he takes the mound tonight in the
continuation o
<< Celtics sign top draft pick Avery Bradley
BOSTON (AP) -The Boston Celtics have signed top draft pick Avery Bradley.Bradley was the No. 19 overall selection in last week's NBA draft.Bradley was a shooting guard in his only year at Texas. He will serve as Rajon Rondo's understudy at point gua
Nats hope to deal Mets, Niese another loss >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals continued to be a thorn in the
side of the New York Mets in the opener of this set on Thursday. Tonight, Jon
Niese tries to get the Mets back on track and win his fifth straight decision
in the second
New-look D-Backs play host to Dodgers in Gibson's debut as manager >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks will have a new manager in place
this evening when they open a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers
at Chase Field.
With the Diamondbacks 17 games under .500 at 31-48 and 15 games back of
Latos tries to stay hot as Padres take on Oswalt and the Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos is emerging as one of the best young pitchers in
baseball.
Tonight he tries to win his fourth straight decision against one of the better
pitchers in the National League over the past decade in Roy Oswalt, as the
Brewers, Cardinals battle again in St. Louis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of surprising 7-4 pitchers take the mound tonight
when the St. Louis Cardinals host the Milwaukee Brewers in game two of a four-
game series between National League Central Division rivals at Busch Stadium.
Thursday
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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.
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