08/24/2008 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Willingham went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI to help the Florida Marlins to a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of a three-game set.
Paul Lo Duca and Hanley Ramirez each drove in a run for the Marlins, who took two of three in the set. Ricky Nolasco (13-7) won his second straight start after he gave up just two runs on three hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings. He also knocked in a run. In his last start on August 19, Nolasco threw a two-hit shutout in San Francisco.
"When he's been going out lately you know your getting a quality start from him," said Willingham about Nolasco. "He's going to keep you in the ballgame and give you a chance to win, that's basically been all year."
Stephen Drew hit a solo home run and scored twice while Conor Jackson drove in the other run for the Diamondbacks, who had won four of five coming into the game. Doug Davis (5-8) was handed the loss as he gave up three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings of work.
"Felt good, my bullpen was a little shaky when I was there warming up, got in a zone and I was able to throw strikes and put the ball in play and they found some hits," said Davis. "I pretty much got out pitched, Nolasco, you have to tip your hat to him, he pitched a great game."
Arizona saw its first-place lead over Los Angeles in the NL West drop to just 2 1/2 games. Los Angeles plays Philadelphia later on Sunday.
The Marlins grabbed the lead in the first as Alfredo Amezaga hit a one-out double, moved to third on Jorge Cantu's ground out and crossed the plate when Willingham reached base on an infield single.
Arizona, though, got the run right back as Drew led off the bottom of the first with a home run over the right-center field wall.
Florida again took the lead in the second as Luis Gonzalez smacked a one-out double and later scored when Nolasco helped his cause with a double for a 2-1 advantage.
The Marlins extended their lead in the sixth as Willingham led off the inning by ripping an 0-2 fastball over the left field wall for a 3-1 lead.
Nolasco retired the Diamondbacks in order from the second through the fifth innings, but gave up a run in the sixth as Drew led off with a double, moved to third on Chris Young's groundout and crossed the plate on a groundout from Jackson to make it a 3-2 game.
Nolasco worked a perfect seventh and got the first out of the eighth before handing the ball to Arthur Rhodes, who retired the next two batters.
Florida padded its lead in the ninth with a couple of two-out runs. Jeremy Hermida belted a ground-rule double that hopped over the wall in right and moved to third on Matt Treanor's ground out. Lo Duca then delivered a pinch- hit double to bring home Hermida and Ramirez followed with a double to bring home Lo Duca for a 5-2 lead.
Kevin Gregg worked the ninth to pick up his 29th save of the season.
Game Notes
Nolasco is 3-1 in five starts in August and has 43 strikeouts...Drew's homer was his 15th of the season...Florida took seven of nine games against Arizona this season...Florida starts a three-game set in Atlanta on Tuesday...Arizona hits the road for a three-game set in San Diego starting on Monday.
<< Molina's bat leads Giants past Pads
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bengie Molina matched a career-high with
five runs batted in, leading the Giants to a comeback victory over the San
Diego Padres, 7-4, in the finale of a weekend series at AT&T Park.
Molina fini
<< Singh wins playoff for Barclays title
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vijay Singh birdied the second hole of a
thrilling playoff on Sunday to defeat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland and
capture The Barclays, the first FedEx Cup Playoff event.
The trio headed back to
<< Cano's homer lifts Yankees to win, sweep of Orioles
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robinson Cano went 4-for-5, and hit the go-
ahead homer in the seventh inning as the New York Yankees edged the Baltimore
Orioles, 8-7, to complete a three-game sweep at Camden Yards.
Johnny Damon had a th
<< Hardy lifts Brewers over Pirates in extras
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.J. Hardy hit a game-winning single in the
12th inning after Guillermo Mota got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the
top of the inning, giving the Brewers a 4-3 victory and completing a sweep of
the Pit
Quintanilla's blast lifts Rockies over Reds in 12th inning >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Omar Quintanilla hit a game-ending home run in
the 12th inning to propel the Colorado Rockies to a 4-3 comeback victory over
the Cincinnati Reds in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Ubaldo Jimenez ha
Lopez helps Mariners power past Athletics >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Felix Hernandez was solid in six innings and
Miguel Cairo had a double, a triple, drove in two runs and scored twice to
lead the Seattle Mariners in an 8-4 rout of the Oakland Athletics.
Hernandez (8-8)
Texans WR Williams has surgery, placed on IR >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Texans wide receiver Harry Williams
underwent surgery on Sunday to repair a fractured vertebra sustained in
Friday's preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The procedure was performed
Kite comes from behind for Boeing win >>
Snoqualmie, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Kite fired a six-under 66 on Sunday to
come from behind and collect his first Champions Tour victory in two years at
the Boeing Classic.
Kite finished at 14-under-par 202 to win by two at the TPC Sn
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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 sportsbook 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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