AL West: Rangers' bullpen getting the job done

Baseball Betting Lines

05/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have taken over the top spot in the American League West standings, and they have their bullpen to thank.

Overall, the Rangers (18-14) have won 10 of their last 13 games. They leapfrogged Oakland into first place this weekend after sweeping a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals. On Sunday, four Rangers' relievers combined to pitch five shutout innings after starter Scott Feldman lasted just four innings. That quartet allowed just two hits from the fifth inning to the ninth, preserving Texas' 6-4 victory.

During the team's current run, the headliner has been Neftali Feliz, who on Sunday picked up his seventh save in his last seven outings to earn his ninth save of the season. And he is picking up steam with each appearance. Feliz hasn't allowed a run over his last six appearances, and he has retired 17 of the last 18 batters he has faced.

But it isn't just Feliz putting up zeroes. All told, the Texas bullpen has notched 10 consecutive scoreless innings and has retired 28 of the 36 batters faced since Thursday, when the Kansas City series began. So far in the month of May, the Rangers' relievers have combined for a Major League-best four wins and six saves.

But while teams often prefer to keep playing day-in, day-out when things are going well, Monday's idle day provided the Rangers' taxed bullpen some much needed rest. After all, it marked their first day off in three weeks. Still, there are some on the team who would love to keep the momentum going.

"You can feel it around the clubhouse, confidence building," starting pitcher Rich Harden told the Star-Telegram on Sunday. "The way things have been going, the way we've been feeling, you want to keep on going."

Later this week, the offense will get a boost from the return of right fielder Nelson Cruz, who has been on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Cruz begins a two-game rehab assignment Tuesday night with Triple-A Oklahoma City. The team could reactivate him as early as Thursday's day game against Oakland, or wait until Friday's series-opener in Toronto. In 19 games before the injury, Cruz was hitting .323 with seven homers and 17 RBI.

BRADEN'S MOTHER'S DAY GIFT

Oakland starter Dallas Braden couldn't have scripted it any better himself.

By now, most of the baseball-following world is well aware of Braden's recent run-in with Yankees' slugger Alex Rodriguez regarding the unwritten rules of baseball etiquette. But until Sunday, most fans knew very little about Braden's upbringing, about how his grandmother cared for him after his mother died of skin cancer during Braden's senior year in high school.

So it was only fitting that on Sunday, Mother's Day, Braden tossed the 19th perfect game in big league history in Oakland's 4-0 win over red-hot Tampa Bay. And of course, Braden's grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, was there to see it in person.

"It's a more important day for my grandmother than anything," said Braden, moments after a tearful embrace with his grandmother. "That's the biggest thing to be able to give her something like this on a day of this magnitude, considering everything we've been through together. It's more about her for me.

"It hasn't been a joyous day for me in a while. But to know that I still get to come out and compete and play a game on that day, that makes it a little better. With my grandma in the stands, that makes it a lot better. To be able to give her this today was perfect."

Braden's perfecto was only the second in team history, as Catfish Hunter accomplished the feat in May of 1968 against Minnesota. And thanks to Braden, the A's improve to 17-15 on the year, just one game back of division-leading Texas. Tonight, the team hits the road for a three-game series with the Rangers, followed by a three-game set with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The A's are tied for the Major League lead with 13 wins at home, though they are just 4-8 on the road.

ANGELS LOOKING TO REGROUP FROM DISASTROUS ROAD TRIP

With their abysmal road trip now in the rearview mirror, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim look to get back to business this week at cozy Angel Stadium.

To recap, the Angels went just 2-8 on their recent trip, which began with a three-game sweep at Detroit and continued with a four-game sweep at Boston, before the Halos were able to salvage a series victory over the Seattle Mariners this past weekend.

As a team, the Angels are hitting just .220 in the month of May, which ranks fourth-worst in the majors for the current month. Meanwhile, the pitching staff has posted a combined 5.53 ERA, third-worst in the majors for the month of May. Be it at the plate or on the mound, something eventually has to give, doesn't it?

The team returned home on Monday to kick off a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, owners of the best record in baseball. Only, for the second time in five games, the Angels blew a 4-0 lead when closer Brian Fuentes gave up three runs in the top of the ninth. But later, in the bottom of the 11th, Juan Rivera delivered a sacrifice fly to preserve the win for the Angels and, hopefully, some of the momentum that had been lost during the 10-game road trip.

MARINERS STILL WAITING ON BATS TO HEAT UP, GRIFFEY TO WAKE UP

Mariners' general manager Jack Zduriencik received plenty of praise for his offseason moves to bolster an already solid starting rotation, trading for former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and resigning Erik Bedard. With Felix Hernandez atop the rotation and Doug Fister (2-1, 1.71) bursting onto the scene, Seattle's rotation ranks third in the American League with a 3.69 ERA, albeit with a combined 7-11 record to show for it.

However, all of that pitching prowess is in danger of being wasted this season if Seattle's lineup continues along its current path. At the moment, Seattle's offense ranks last in the AL in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. In other words, virtually every significant offensive category.

Already this week, rumors have been swirling that 40-year-old Ken Griffey Jr.'s Seattle reunion is in danger of ending much earlier than anyone in the organization had hoped. Griffey is hitting just .208 with zero home runs and only five RBI as the team's designated hitter and, according to a couple of teammates, was asleep in the clubhouse recently when manager Don Wakamatsu was looking for a pinch-hitter.

The team's struggles boiled over on Sunday, when hitting coach Alan Cockrell was relieved of his duties and replaced by Triple-A Tacoma hitting coach Alonzo Powell. Powell is familiar with a lot of the hitters who came up through the team's minor league system. Zduriencik's hope is that "sometimes, just the same message from a different messenger carries some weight."

Casnogames Baseball Betting News

<< MacMullan, Tait named Gowdy recipients
Springfield, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reporter Jackie MacMullan and broadcaster Joe Tait have been selected as the 2010 recipients of the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Gowdy Media Award is named in honor

<< NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in Charlotte
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - More than three years after its groundbreaking, the NASCAR Hall of Fame officially opened to the public on Tuesday in Charlotte. A one-hour opening ceremony was held in front of the 150

<< Samuel staying with Saints
Perth, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Striker Collin Samuel has signed a new one- year contract to remain with St Johnstone next season. The 28-year-old Trinidad & Tobago international has been with the Saints since the summer of 2008 and

<< Boozer, Brown among Divisional College Football Hall of Fame class
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emerson Boozer and Troy Brown were among four players and two coaches inducted into the 2010 Divisional Class of the College Football Hall of Fame, as announced Tuesday by Archie Manning, chairman of the Nationa

<< Phillies-Jays series moved to Philadelphia
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The June interleague series between the Blue Jays and Phillies will now be played in Philadelphia to avoid issues with the upcoming G20 Summit in Toronto. Major League Baseball announced the decision Tues

U.S. leaves Davies off preliminary Cup roster >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States coach Bob Bradley left injured striker Charlie Davies off the preliminary 30-man World Cup roster, which was announced Tuesday. Davies emerged as a likely starter for the World Cup during the

Sunderland completes Riveros signing >>
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has made Paraguay international Cristian Riveros his first signing of the summer. The 27-year-old, who has been included in his country's World Cup squad, moves to Wearsid

McClaren takes charge at Wolfsburg >>
Wolfsburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former England boss Steve McClaren has decided to leave newly-crowned Dutch champions Twente to join deposed German champions Wolfsburg on a three-year contract. McClaren had been linked with a num

Toole new Robert Morris hoops coach >>
Moon Township, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Morris University has named Andrew Toole as the school's new head basketball coach. Toole, an assistant with the Colonials for the last three seasons, takes over for Mike Rice, who left to

Maxwell to miss Barca finale >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona has confirmed that Maxwell will miss its La Liga title decider against Real Valladolid through injury. The Brazil defender limped out of Saturday's 3-2 victory over Sevilla and scans have c

Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.

NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.

Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.

Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.

NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
--------------------------------------------------

Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&amp;M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6

For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com

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.