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06/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of 2009 postseason participants seeking to get back to the top of their respective divisions square off in a three-game series that begins tonight at Anaheim's Angel Stadium, where the defending American League West-champion Angels play host to the Colorado Rockies.
Neither club is in first place at the moment, but both remain in striking distance in their division standings. The Rockies sit fourth in the competitive National League West, four games back of front-running San Diego, while the second-place Angels are currently 4 1/2 games behind the scorching Texas Rangers in the AL West.
Anaheim has lost ground to the Rangers, a team riding an 11-game winning streak, despite having prevailed in five of their past seven contests. The Angels took the first two tests of their just-completed series with the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers before being dealt a 10-6 defeat by their crosstown rival last night.
The Dodgers rocked Angels starter Scott Kazmir (7-6) for five runs in the top of the fourth inning to end a string of four consecutive winning efforts for the left-hander. Kazmir also walked three and hit a batter before exiting after only 3 2/3 frames.
"My fastball command wasn't there, but I had a good feel with other pitches," Kazmir said. "Hitting [James] Loney and walking [Russell] Martin in the fourth was big. You can't give guys free bases."
Bobby Abreu went 2-for-3 with two RBI for Anaheim, with Howie Kendrick and Kevin Frandsen each collecting a pair of hits and scoring twice in the loss.
Despite failing to come up with a sweep, the Angels have still won five of their past seven series and are 15-6 since June 2.
Colorado is also 5-2 over its past seven games and enters this series off a strong showing against visiting Boston. The Rockies handed the surging Red Sox back-to-back losses on Tuesday and Wednesday before coming up short in an extra-inning slugfest in last night's finale. Boston claimed a 13-11 verdict on Dustin Pedroia's two-run homer off Huston Street with two outs in the top of the 10th.
The Rockies sent the contest into extra frames by scoring three times during the eighth and ninth innings. Jason Giambi's pinch-hit single in the eighth brought Colorado within 11-9, while Brad Hawpe delivered a two-RBI hit with one out in the ninth to tie the score.
"That's some game, that's some series," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said afterward. "Obviously I haven't been around here since the inception of this ballpark (Coors Field), but I think you might be hard-pressed to find a better three-game series that was played between two clubs."
Hawpe also had a two-run single in his first at-bat, with both Todd Helton and Ian Stewart contributing two RBI for the Rockies. Jonathan Herrera paced Colorado's 18-hit attack by going 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
The heavy-hitting Rockies will take their swings tonight off Jered Weaver, who's been one tough customer on the Angel Stadium mound this season. The standout right-hander sports a 1.85 earned run average along with a 2-1 record in six home assignments thus far in 2010, with opponents hitting just .212 off him in those games.
Weaver also owns a 2-0 mark and 2.37 ERA in three interleague starts this year and is coming off a dominating performance over NL Central member Chicago last Saturday. The former first-round pick limited the Cubs to a mere two hits over seven shutout innings and struck out 11 batters, bringing his AL-leading total to 107 for the season.
The 27-year-old, who's never previously faced the Rockies, has won three of his last four starts and has gone 7-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 15 outings this year.
Jeff Francis gets the call for Colorado and will be taking the hill for the eighth time since missing the season's first month-and-a-half while recovering from shoulder surgery. The left-hander has been pitching well as of late, working into the seventh inning in three straight starts and posting a 3.10 ERA over that time frame.
Francis has registered a win and two no-decisions over that three-game stretch. He defeated Toronto on June 19 after surrendering three runs (two earned) on five hits over seven innings, then allowed four runs (three earned) in 6 1/3 frames while not factoring in the final outcome of Saturday's 8-7 win over Milwaukee.
The native Canadian also got a no-decision in his lone career matchup with Anaheim, which took place at Angel Stadium in 2006. Francis gave up two runs over 6 2/3 innings that night.
Colorado took two of three from the Angels in that 2006 series, but Anaheim returned the favor with two wins in three bouts against the Rockies at the Big A last season.
<< No shortage of storylines in opener between Diamondbacks and Rays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There are plenty of storylines to choose from this evening
when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays begin a three-game set at
Tropicana Field.
Edwin Jackson will be facing the Rays for the first time since being de
<< Orioles, Nationals open set at Camden Yards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The woeful Baltimore Orioles enter the weekend with
momentum - sort of - when they begin a three-game interleague series with the
nearby Washington Nationals tonight at Camden Yards.
Baltimore, which has five fewer wins th
<< With Valentine rumors swirling, Marlins open set with Padres
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place San Diego Padres continue their early-
summer tour of Florida tonight when they venture to Miami to open a three-game
set with the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.
Leading by 2 1/2 games over the San Francisco
<< Clijsters, Henin among third-round winners at Wimbledon
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin were
each third-round winners on Friday at Wimbledon and will meet next Monday in
the round of 16 at the All England Club.
The eighth-seeded Clijsters rolled to a
Greinke to go for Royals in opener with Cards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke can only
hope to finish his 2010 campaign with a winning record, considering the way
things have gone this season. With a ledger six games below .500, Greinke will
try to get clo
Brewers to host Mariners in matchup of surging teams >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers got their homestand off to a great
start and will shoot for a season-high fifth straight win tonight in the
opener of a three-game series versus the Seattle Mariners at Miller Park.
Milwaukee just com
A's seek to end slide at Pirates' expense >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics' chances of ending its current slide
just got a little better with the Pittsburgh Pirates in town for a three-game
set that starts with tonight's series opener at the Coliseum.
Oakland was just swept
Yanks make anticipated trip to LA to face Torre-led Dodgers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have won five world championships in
the past 14 seasons. Four of them were led by the man who will be sitting in
the opposing dugout when the Bronx Bombers visit Los Angeles for a high-
profile three-gam
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.
Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.
Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.
If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.
Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.
By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.
In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.
So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.
While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.
In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:
SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.
XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.
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