Dodgers Series Smash Salvage Over Starter

Baseball Betting Lines

Lost in all the confusion was the impressive effort put forth by Seattle starter Doug Fister who went the distance yet suffered his ninth loss of the campaign. Fister allowed six hits and just the one run, while striking out seven in the hard-luck loss.

 

Against the Kansas City Royals at home earlier this week, the right-hander gave up three runs on seven his and a pair of walks, while striking out six over six innings in a 4-3 win. Entering the month of July the Virginia native is still trying to recover from an 0-5 start to begin 2011.

 

Beavan, a towering right-hander who stands 6-7, is making his debut at the major league level after producing a 5-3 record with the Rainiers this season. Beavan was actually roughed up in his most recent outing on Tuesday when he was tagged for six runs on 12 hits over four innings against Las Vegas on the road.

 

Despite the loss last night, Seattle is still just 3 1/2 games out of first place in the American League West and has managed to stay close to the pack despite being the lowest-scoring team in the AL with a total of just 283 runs through 83 games.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winners in four of their last five outings, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim try to take two of three from the Dodgers for the second time in the last 10 days as they close out an interleague set with their National League counterparts at home. The Angels, who won two of three at Dodger Stadium last weekend, rebounded from a 5-0 shutout on Friday night by putting up a resounding 7-1 win versus the ailing Dodgers yesterday and by doing so closed to within a game of Texas for first place in the American League West.

 

"The guys came out and did a heck of a job tonight. Anytime you can get a six or seven run lead, it takes a lot of the pressure off you," said Weaver.

 

Andre Ethier accounted for two of the five hits by the Dodgers, while James Loney scored the lone run for the visitors in the fifth inning.

 

Anxious to get his season on track, right-hander Ervin Santana is set to take the ball for the Angels tonight in the series finale. Santana, who was a career-best 17-10 a season ago, has but three wins in 11 decisions in 2011.

 

Santana, who hasn't won since May 25, has a record of 3-3 to go along with a 3.93 ERA in six career games versus the Dodgers.

 

Billingsley worked through six shutout innings, allowing just four hits and a couple of walks while striking out four in the triumph.

 

Keeping the Dodgers relevant for the time being has been Matt Kemp who is ranked in the top-three in the NL in home runs (22), batting average (.327) and RBI (64).

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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.