Humber In Starts Club

Baseball Betting Lines

Heading to the hill for the Indians in the series finale this afternoon is Mitch Talbot. The right-hander, who is in search of just his third win of 2011, saw limited time with the big club in April and May but managed to work his way into five starts last month.

 

On Monday the third-year man lasted just five innings against Arizona, giving up three runs on three hits and a pair of walks and even though the Tribe captured the win Talbot did not factor into the decision.

 

As for Cincinnati, its plan is to hand the ball to right-hander Mike Leake for his first-ever appearances against Cleveland. Leake, now in just his second year in the majors, posted his most recent win on Monday, a 5-0 decision over the Tampa Bay Rays.

 

Despite being the top scoring team in the NL Central, the Reds are currently just 42-42 and are fourth in the standings, three games off the pace set by Milwaukee and St. Louis. Additionally, Cincinnati is now a mere 5-12 in interleague play this season, compared to the Tribe which has taken 11 of 17 outings.

 

Kevin Correia, who has a two-game winning streak, gets the ball for the Pirates. He's pitched six innings in each of those games, most recently at Toronto on Tuesday when the righty allowed five hits and four runs. He's 2-2 with a 3.28 ERA in 11 games (4 starts) all time against the Nationals.

 

The teams split a doubleheader yesterday. Ivan Rodriguez slapped a pinch-hit, RBI single in the eighth inning to lead the Nationals to a 4-3 win in the nightcap.

 

Later in the frame, with two down, Rodriguez fell behind 0-2, then fought off two fastballs before slicing a line drive to right, scoring Rick Ankiel.

 

The Nationals lead the season series, 4-3. Washington has taken 11 of the last 15 in this series.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winners in nine of their last 11 contests, the Giants will wrap up their weekend set today against the Tigers hoping for their first extended series road sweep of the season. The Giants haven't swept a series of the road of at least three games since taking four in a row from Arizona, July 22-25 last season. They did take a two-game set at Dodger Stadium this year.

 

Barry Zito (2-1) tossed six scoreless innings around a lengthy rain delay. He gave up five hits in the victory. Guillermo Mota allowed three runs on four hits over three innings of relief to pick up his first save of the season.

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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.