Brewers edge Padres; Stairs sets HR mark
Baseball Betting Lines
08/21/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Dickerson had two hits and two runs batted in and Mike McClendon worked three scoreless innings to earn his first major-league win as Milwaukee downed San Diego, 6-5, in the middle meeting of a three-game set.
Ryan Braun hit his first home run since July 24 while Prince Fielder singled, scored a run, drove in a run and walked twice to lead the Brewers to a fourth straight win.
McClendon (1-0) allowed one hit, walked three and struck out three in his second big league outing. John Axford tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames to garner his 19th save of the season for Milwaukee, which evened the season series at three games apiece.
"The first night I thought my sinker was definitely on. I could put it where I wanted to. Tonight, I had to mix it up and just see what happens," said the rookie right-hander when asked to compare his first two outings. "It was pretty exciting" describing what it felt like to get his first career win. "That was one of the best games I've ever seen or ever been a part of."
Kevin Correia (10-8) took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings for the Padres, who have lost two straight after a five-game win streak.
Matt Stairs' two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning cut the Brewers' lead to 6-5 and was the 21st of his career to establish a new record.
Alcides Escobar doubled with one out in the first and scored the game's first run on a two-out single by Fielder.
Escobar and Fielder walked around a Braun single to load the bases with nobody out in the third for Casey McGehee, who delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Escobar to push the lead to 2-0. Lorenzo Cain singled to reload the bases for Dickerson, who drove in Braun with a ground ball out.
San Diego used a Ryan Ludwick single and walks to Chase Headley and Yorvit Torrealba to load the bases with nobody out in the fourth. Chris Denorfia followed with a two-run double to left to cut the lead to 3-2 and chase Chris Narveson from the hill.
McClendon took over and walked Scott Hairston to reload the bases before a base hit by Corriea plated Torreabla to tie the game. However, the visitors were unable to push across any more runs after David Eckstein and Miguel Tejada bounced into force plays at the plate and Adrian Gonzalez struck out.
Narveson was charged with three runs on four hits and three walks in three- plus innings of work in his first career start against San Diego.
Fielder started the fifth inning with a walk, moved to second base on a McGehee single and to third on a Cain fielder's choice grounder that also brought Correia's night to an end.
"It wasn't a great outing, obviously," commented Correia. "I definitely had some opportunities to turn it into a decent start but they had a different approach then I thought they were going to have. They waited on my off-speed stuff and that's where they got all of their hits. It was a good mindset for them and I just wasn't up to the task."
Joe Thatcher was brought on to face Dickerson, who delivered a sacrifice fly to push Fielder across with the go-ahead run. Cain stole second and scored when Jonathan Lucroy singled into right field to make it a 5-3 game.
Braun's two-out solo shot to left-center off Ernesto Frieri in the sixth extended the home team's lead to 6-3.
After Zach Braddock tossed a scoreless seventh inning, Kameron Loe assumed the hill for Milwaukee in the eighth. Denorfia singled with one out and scored when Stairs followed with his blast to right field. Loe was lifted after the next pitch to Will Venable and replaced by Axford.
Venable singled and stole second but was left stranded when Tejada struck out to end the frame. Axford then set down San Diego in turn in the ninth to end the game.
Game Notes
Stairs and Cliff Johnson had shared the record for pinch-hit homers with 20 before coming into Saturday's game...Milwaukee's Corey Hart did not play in the game due to tightness in his right hamstring that caused him to leave Friday's game...McGehee has 24 RBI during August...He finished 2-for-3 for his 34th multi-hit game of the season...Braun snapped a string of 87 at-bats without a long ball since his prior home run off Washington's J.D. Martin...He finished 2-for-4 to collect his 44th multi-hit game of the season...Eckstein was activated off the 15-day disabled list prior to the game...He had been sidelined since July 21 with a right calf strain...Correia had won his last three starts overall and his last three road turns before falling Saturday night...Gonzalez went 1-for-5 and had a five-game multi-hit streak at Miller Park snapped...San Diego is 22-7 against the NL Central. Milwaukee is 48-6 when leading after seven innings.
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Brown kicked four field goals, including the game-winning 28-yard boot late in the fourth quarter, as St. Louis grabbed a 19-17 preseason win over Cleveland. A.J. Feeley led the Rams on a
<< Folk, Jets edge Panthers
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Folk booted three field goals to lead
New York to a 9-3 win over Carolina at Bank of America Stadium.
Mark Sanchez completed 5-of-10 passes for 12 yards and Joe McKnight carried 11
times for 28 yards
<< Longtime Pistons PR director Dobek passes away
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Dobek, who served in the Detroit Pistons
organization for 29 years up until this past May, passed away at the age of
51.
The Detroit Free Press reported Dobek's death, but cited no reason for his
<< Daniel leads Saints over Texans
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Daniel completed 15-of-21 passes for
182 yards and three touchdowns, leading the New Orleans Saints to a 38-20
preseason victory over the Houston Texans.
Daniel also threw an interception in r
<< Enright and Upton carry DBacks past Rockies
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Enright pitched into the seventh inning
and Justin Upton finally got the best of Ubaldo Jimenez by hitting the go-
ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, as Arizona topped Colorado, 3-1, at
Chase F
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Campbell threw for 170 yards on 10-of-20 passing and ran for a touchdown, as the Oakland Raiders took a 32-17 preseason victory over the Chicago Bears. Campbell, who also had one interception, played
New York Jets 2010 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - To be a fan of the New York Jets is to be encoded with the
skepticism chip.
When you've hitched your wagon to an organization that has, for more than four
decades, taken two colossal steps back for every stride forward, de
Rodriguez's homer lifts Rays over A's >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sean Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, game-winning
two-run homer with two outs in the eighth, and the Tampa Bay Rays slipped past
the Oakland A's, 5-4, in the third of four games at Oakland Coliseum.
Rodriguez's
Stanton leads Lions over Broncos >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Stanton's 25-yard rushing touchdown with
just under two minutes remaining lifted the Detroit Lions over the Denver
Broncos, 25-20, in the second preseason game for each club at Invesco Field.
Stanto
Cowboys beat Chargers on late safety >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas' Tony Romo and San Diego's Philip
Rivers were each picked off during their first offensive series and the
Cowboys earned a sloppy 16-14 preseason win over the Chargers thanks to a late
safety.
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.