Abreu homers twice in Angels' win over O's
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu hit a pair of homers, accounting for four runs batted in, and John Lackey threw eight strong innings, as the Angels beat Baltimore, 5-2, in the opener of a four-game series.
Chone Figgins had three hits and drove in the other run for Los Angeles, which began a 10-game homestand on the right foot, snapping a two-game skid while winning for the seventh time in nine contests.
Lackey (3-3) had seven strikeouts while giving up four hits and two runs, moving to 7-3 lifetime against the Orioles. Brian Fuentes tossed the ninth inning for his major league-leading 23rd save.
"I established the fastball pretty good tonight," said Lackey. "I mixed my pitches well and located my fastball."
Jeremy Guthrie (6-8) surrendered nine hits and five runs over seven innings to have a personal two-game win streak broken.
Luke Scott homered for the Orioles, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Abreu homered to right field leading off the fourth inning, but the Orioles tied it in the next inning, when Matt Wieters singled in Nolan Reimold with one out. Baltimore, though, wasted a chance with runners at the corners, as Robert Andino and Brian Roberts each struck out.
Los Angeles exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take command. Maicer Izturis led off with a triple, and Mike Napoli walked. One out later, Figgins blooped an RBI single to left-center. Abreu then jumped all over an 0-2 offering for his sixth homer of the year, a shot barely over the wall in right field.
"My game is a line-drive hitter," said Abreu. "I try not to force it. When the homers come, they're welcome."
Scott homered to center with one out in the seventh, but Aubrey Huff's single in the ninth represented Baltimore's only hit over the final two innings.
"There wasn't much to hit," said Scott. "I actually hit a good pitch. I got lucky, but he (Lackey) mixed up his pitches and he was on his game."
Game Notes
It was Abreu's 14th career multi-homer game and first this season...The Angels are 8-3 in their last 11 home games and have won 14 of 19 overall...Abreu upped his total to 48 RBI this season... The O's are just 4-13 in Anaheim since the start of the 2006 campaign.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.