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08/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even with stud right-hander Chris Carpenter on the mound tonight, the St. Louis Cardinals will not be guaranteed a win over the Houston Astros in the second portion of a three-game series between NL Central inhabitants at Minute Maid Park.
St. Louis has lost three straight and 11 of its last 15 contests to fall six games behind Cincinnati for the division lead, but did remain three games in back of Philadelphia for the Wild Card in the Senior Circuit. In Monday's series-opening 3-0 loss at Houston, Jake Westbrook was dealt the hard-luck defeat for yielding all three runs and nine hits in seven innings.
"The first inning was tough for me," said Westbrook. "It was some tough luck out there and the seventh inning was all me, it was all my fault out there."
Westbrook gave up two runs in the seventh frame to put his team in an even bigger hole, while Randy Winn and Yadier Molina had the Cardinals' only two hits on the night. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, two of St. Louis' top sluggers, both finished 0-for-3 in the loss.
Carpenter will shoot for his 15th win of the season tonight and has won five of his last six decisions, but did not factor in the outcome of last Thursday's 11-10 loss at Washington. He allowed six runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits over six innings to remain at 14-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 28 starts.
The righty and 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner is 4-1 in 12 road starts and will face Houston for the third time this season. He owns a 1-1 mark with a 3.52 ERA over the first two matchups and is 7-4 in 16 lifetime starts against the Astros.
Houston starter J.A. Happ has been solid since coming over from Philadelphia as part of the Roy Oswalt deal and delivered a two-hit shutout last night. Happ struck out four batters and allowed one walk to improve to 5-2 this season. It was the third shutout of his career and first this season.
"It's been a while since I felt that comfortable throwing first strikes," said Happ. "I was feeding off that confidence. [The Cardinals] were putting the ball in play and we were making the plays out there tonight."
Brett Wallace went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Hunter Pence had two hits and a run scored for the Astros, who have won seven of their last nine games, including a four-game sweep in Philadelphia before the weekend.
Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez has been impressive over the past two months and is slated to take the mound Tuesday. Rodriguez is 7-2 with a 1.79 earned run average in his last 12 starts and recently defeated the Phillies last Thursday with seven innings of one-run ball in a 5-1 victory.
The lefty will now face St. Louis for the fourth time this season and is 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA over the initial three starts. In 18 career matchups (17 starts) with the Cardinals, Rodriguez is only 4-11 with a 4.30 ERA.
Rodriguez is 6-5 in 13 starts at Minute Maid Park this season.
Houston has won eight of 13 meetings with the Cardinals this season.
<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - August 31st
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
Halftime - Group C: Russia 34, Ivory Coast 30 (Ankara)
Halftime - Group D; New Zealand 51, Lebanon 32 (Izmir)
Group C: Puerto Rico vs. China, 11:30 a.m. (Ankara)
Group D: France vs. Canada, 11:30 a.m. (Izmir)
Gro
<< Ho hum. It's business as usual for No. 1 Tide
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Nick Saban didn't so much as raise his voice. The trademark scowl never made even a cameo appearance.Sure seems as if No. 1 Alabama's top ranking and elephant-sized expectations are becoming the status quo around here, judging
<< ECU's McNeill embraces challenge of 1st game week
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -The smoke will billow near East Carolina's locker room, the pyrotechnics will sparkle and they'll blast Jimi Hendrix's ``Purple Haze'' over the speakers.Then, for the first time, Ruffin McNeill will lead the Pirates onto the f
<< Nine carries in preseason plenty for Jackson
ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson says nine carries in the preseason is enough to get ready for the season.The Pro Bowler said he didn't want to play Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens. Then came the long, rumbling
Steelers waive Frazier, release four others >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have waived
linebacker Andre Frazier, who was part of the club's past two Super Bowl
teams.
Frazier re-signed with Pittsburgh in March, but reported to camp with a knee
injury. He wa
Giants place Sorgi, Moss on IR >>
East Rutherford, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have placed
quarterback Jim Sorgi and wide receiver Sinorice Moss on injured reserve.
Sorgi, who was signed in March to back up Eli Manning, suffered a shoulder
injury in the preseas
Stuttgart signs Italian midfielder Camoranesi >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stuttgart acquired Italian midfielder
Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus on Tuesday and signed him to a one-year deal.
Camoranesi helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup and has played 54 times for his
countr
Alabama's Ingram to miss opener with knee injury >>
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram of Alabama will miss the season opener after injuring his left knee during practice.He was hurt Monday and coach Nick Saban said in a statement the star tailback had an arthroscopic procedure
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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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.
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