Red Sox pick up Kotsay from Braves

Baseball Betting Lines

08/27/2008 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox bolstered their outfield on Wednesday by landing veteran Mark Kotsay from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league outfielder Luis Sumoza.

Just a day after sending outfielder J.D. Drew to the disabled list with a back strain, the Red Sox picked up another left-handed bat for the stretch run. The 32-year-old Kotsay was hitting .289 with six home runs and 37 RBI in 88 games with Atlanta this season.

The 20-year-old Sumoza hit .301 with 11 home runs, 15 doubles and 38 RBI in 51 games with the Lowell Spinners of the Single-A New York-Penn League. A native of Maracay, Venezuela, Sumoza will join the Single-A Rome Braves.

Atlanta already sent star first baseman Mark Teixeira to the Angels in a July 29 deal for first baseman Casey Kotchman. Now the club has parted ways with Kotsay, who was added in an offseason deal that sent relief pitcher Joey Devine to Oakland. The veteran outfielder was brought to Atlanta to fill the center field position vacated by Andruw Jones, whom the Braves elected not to re-sign. Jones signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kotsay, who missed five weeks this season with a bad back and missed much of 2007 with Oakland after back surgery, is a career .282 hitter over 12 seasons with the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Athletics, and Atlanta. Kotsay, who will be a free agent after this season, hit for the cycle in a 5-for-5 game against the Chicago Cubs on August 14.

The Braves recalled Josh Anderson from Triple-A Richmond on Wednesday to take Kotsay's roster spot.

The Braves enter play Wednesday at 58-74, 15 games behind first-place Philadelphia in the NL East. The Red Sox, conversely, begin Wednesday at 76-55, 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East, and 2 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota for the AL wild card.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards