Athletics begin home set with Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling teams begin a three-game series tonight at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum, where the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays will try to end their slump against an Athletics club that's lost four games in a row.

Tampa Bay won 97 times during the regular season in last year's turnaround campaign, but Joe Maddon's squad has yet to recapture the magic so far in 2009. The Rays have lost seven of their last nine games and currently stand at the bottom of the AL East with a 6-10 record.

The Rays have scored three runs or fewer in each of their last seven defeats, and their offensive struggles continued in yesterday's 1-0 loss at Seattle. Tampa Bay managed just four singles off Mariners starter Felix Hernandez and two relievers on the afternoon.

James Shields (2-2) did come through with a gem on the mound for the Rays, yielding one run and just four hits while walking one over 7 1/3 outstanding innings in a hard-luck loss. The right-hander's only run allowed came on a leadoff homer by Ichiro Suzuki in the bottom of the first.

Tampa hopes to break out in its first-ever encounter with A's rookie Trevor Cahill, who takes a fourth stab at attempting to earn his first major league victory. The 21-year-old has recorded a loss and two no-decisions through his initial three outings, but has allowed two earned runs or less in each of those starts.

Cahill worked around five walks in a 5 1/3-inning no-decision at Toronto last Saturday, holding the Blue Jays to just two runs. The highly-regarded right- hander was even better his previous time out, when he permitted only one run and two hits through seven frames of a 1-0 home loss to Seattle on April 12.

Oakland had a much-needed day off on Thursday after participating in a 14- inning marathon at Yankee Stadium the previous day. The A's came up on the short end of a 9-7 decision in that game, with New York's Melky Cabrera providing the winning margin with a two-run homer with one out in the final frame.

The Athletics tied the contest at 7-7 with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but managed just three hits against the Yankee bullpen the rest of the way. Matt Holliday finished 2-for-6 and delivered the tying single in the seventh, while Kurt Suzuki hit a three-run homer earlier on and also collected a pair of hits for Oakland.

Dan Giese (2-2) was dealt the loss after giving up Cabrera's blast in a 2 1/3- inning stint. Oakland starter Brett Anderson worked the first 5 1/3 innings and surrendered five runs on nine hits, three of which were home runs.

The rested A's will take their swings tonight off Scott Kazmir, who pitched the Rays to wins in each of his first two starts of 2009 but turned in a clunker his last time out.

Against the White Sox this past Saturday, Kazmir was reached for six runs and served up a pair of homers in just four innings of his team's 8-3 loss to Chicago. The hard-throwing lefty's control was off all game long, as he issued six walks and threw just 54-of-92 pitches for strikes.

Kazmir did not walk a single batter in his previous start, a 15-5 home rout of the Yankees on April 13 in which he tossed 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball.

The 25-year-old Texan has had very good success when facing Oakland in the past, having amassed a 6-2 record with a 2.70 ERA over 11 career starts against the Athletics. Kazmir allowed only three runs in 19 innings over three starts versus Oakland in 2008, posting a 2-1 mark in those games.

Tampa Bay went 6-3 against the A's a year ago and won four of the six meetings held at the Coliseum.

Wwwsportsterminal Baseball Betting News

<< Royals' Greinke aims to put up more zeros vs. Tigers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zack Greinke puts his impressive consecutive scoreless innings streak on the line tonight, when the Kansas City standout leads the Royals in the opener of a three-game series with the American League Central- rival Detroit Ti

<< Red Sox, Yankees begin latest edition of rivalry
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox take aim at their seventh straight victory this evening when they resume baseball's fiercest rivalry with the first of 18 games this season against the hated New York Yankees at Fenway Park. After a slo

<< Blazers, Rockets meet in pivotal Game 3
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets accomplished what they needed to in Portland and now their Western Conference quarterfinals series shifts to south Texas for a pivotal Game 3 tonight. After opening the best-of-seven set with a rout in

<< Cavs shoot for commanding 3-0 series lead over Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals is slowly being lost in the rear-view mirror by this group of Detroit Pistons. The new bullies on the block in the East, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, hope to

<< Tottenham's Redknapp interested in Beckham
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp has admitted an interest in bringing David Beckham back to the Premier League. Beckham, 33, will divide his time between a loan spell at AC Milan and MLS club Los An

Mets, Santana welcome Nationals to Citi Field >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets call on southpaw ace Johan Santana to stop the early season bleeding tonight when they open a three-game weekend series with the visiting Washington Nationals at Citi Field. The Mets open the weekend in f

Surging Pirates sail into San Diego >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will try to stretch their winning streak to four games tonight in the opener of a three-game series out west versus the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The Pirates are coming off a three-game

First-place Mariners visit Angels >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a brutal start to the 2009 season, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are showing signs of turning things around. The defending American League West champions will get a test of how far they've come when the resurgent Se

Giants send Lincecum to hill in Arizona >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco's Tim Lincecum turned in his best performance of the season versus Arizona last weekend, but was outdueled by Doug Davis. Those two hurlers will square off again tonight, as the Giants and Diamond

Rangers try to complete upset of Caps in D.C. >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers will try to complete a first-round upset when they visit the second-seeded Washington Capitals at Verizon Center for Game 5 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The seventh-seeded Ran

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.