NL West: Injuries piling up in LA

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Imagine the San Diego Padres trying to stay atop the NL West standings without Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley and Yorvit Torrealba.

The Los Angeles Dodgers would certainly enjoy seeing that happen, but they're the ones trying to stay healthy for a gigantic stretch run in the second half. The Dodgers, currently 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading Padres, are dealing with injuries to Manny Ramirez, Russell Martin and James Loney.

Ramirez hasn't played since Friday because of a tight calf muscle. That was the last time Martin saw action because of a thumb ailment and Loney recently tweaked a hamstring, forcing manager Joe Torre to make a late scratch before Sunday's 5-4 loss at St. Louis. All three are questionable for Monday's series opener versus rival San Francisco.

The Cardinals completed the four-game sweep of Los Angeles (49-43) with two runs in the bottom of the ninth and erased a 4-0 lead.

"It's tough. Very tough," Torre said on the team's site. "It looked like what should have been a good enough lead, we let get away, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves."

Torre was "celebrating" his 70th birthday and the loss may have added a few years. He is still mum on his future with the club, and has more to worry about with injuries and breakdowns in pitching. It's not as if the Dodgers can go out and make a big trade or sign someone since moving money around is not a subject the franchise wants to discuss at this point. What you see is what you get from this current group of Dodgers, and it's going to be tough making ground in the NL West for the remainder of the season.

PADRES PAINT FUTURE BLACK

It's safe to say San Diego Padres manager Bud Black has performed a mini miracle with the ballclub this season.

Upper management seems to feel the same way and handed him a three-year contract extension through 2013 with club options for 2014 and 2015. Black, whose deal was extended through 2010 with a club option for 2011 last August, has the confidence of his players and general manager Jed Hoyer.

"I am really happy to announce that the Padres have reached an agreement on a well-deserved contract extension for Bud Black," said Hoyer. "This news comes at time when the team is playing well, but my faith in Bud goes far beyond wins and losses. He and his staff are exceptionally well prepared, he embraces the challenge of teaching young players and, most importantly, the players compete for him every night."

During his three-plus seasons at the helm, Black has led San Diego to an overall mark of 281-297.

Many pegged the Padres to finish near the basement in the NL West this season and that they would probably trade All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Instead, San Diego has spent numerous weeks atop the division standings and owns the best record in the National League at 54-37. Atlanta is right behind with a 54-38 ledger.

Gonzalez isn't going anywhere as of now, and the Padres would be foolish to let their best left-handed bat go. The team locked up Black, so why not Gonzalez too?

San Diego has won four straight and will visit the Braves for three games starting with Tuesday's series opener.

GIANTS MUST PLAY BETTER IN NL WEST

With the Los Angeles Dodgers ailing and the Arizona Diamondbacks struggling, the San Francisco Giants' upcoming schedule should get a bit easier.

The Giants (50-42) will open a seven-game road trip in Hollywood and Arizona tonight, but have the worst division mark in the NL West. At 9-20 in division play, it's no wonder the Giants are 4 1/3 games out first place.

On a sour note, San Francisco has won only three of 14 road games against teams from the NL West this season.

"I think as much as anything it's the focus these guys came in with, knowing this is part of the schedule and how important it is to play on the road, especially when you have a long stretch, and that can determine your season," noted Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "That's how you have to look at it, how important it is, and come out every day and be ready to go."

On a more uplifting note, the Giants have won nine of their last 11 games and almost completed a rare four-game sweep of the visiting New York Mets before the bullpen imploded Sunday afternoon. Bochy has a strong trio of pitchers for the upcoming set with LA, as young prospect Madison Bumgarner, two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and 2002 AL Cy Young honoree Barry Zito are scheduled to pitch in Hollywood.

HIT STREAKS END FOR COLORADO'S GONZALEZ, HERRERA

Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and infielder Jonathan Herrera both had lengthy hitting streaks come to an end in Sunday's win at Cincinnati.

They are probably more relieved that the ballclub was able to halt a three- game losing streak despite combining to go 0-for-8 in the 1-0 win.

Herrera was riding a 13-game hitting streak and batted .396 with seven runs and seven RBI before an 0-for-4 showing yesterday. He had a 10-game streak going earlier this season and the longest streak by a Rockie this season was Clint Barmes' 14-game run from the end of June to the beginning of July.

Gonzalez had a hit in 10 consecutive contests before his 0-for-4 performance on Sunday. He hit .442 with 13 runs bated in over the stretch.

In other team news, All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is expected to join the team in south Florida this week. The injured infielder, who is hampered by a broken left wrist, could begin a Minor League rehab assignment in the next few days. First baseman Todd Helton is still on the disabled list with a back problem, but has been taking swings in the batting cage.

The Rockies (50-41) are four games off the NL West lead and have won seven of their last 10 games. They are 1-2 on an 11-game trek through Cincinnati, Florida and Philadelphia.

IF ONLY VASQUEZ COULD START FOR D'BACKS

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been through turmoil this season.

A lack of hits in the clutch and poor pitching has led the Diamondbacks to an abysmal 34-58 record this season, a manager change and a new GM. Arizona has the worst overall earned run average this season at 5.40, while its relievers own an MLB-low 6.78 ERA.

Relief pitcher Esmerling Vasquez has been able to put all of that aside and has worked 8 1/3 straight scoreless innings. Interim manager Kirk Gibson could use just about anything right now on the mound. Heck, he could test and see if the batboy has a good arm.

But it's been nice for Vasquez and his scoreless streak because there hasn't been much to talk about in the desert these days.

Arizona may even make some moves at the upcoming trade deadline, but don't expect them to break the bank or dump salary for the fun of it. Perhaps starting pitcher Dan Haren will be on the trade block or some other veteran who could bring in a package of prospects.

"I don't think anybody is really in a deal-making mode yet. We've been very open in discussing with teams what we'd be interested in doing," D'Backs GM Jerry Dipoto said on the team's site.

The Diamondbacks have lost four in a row and are last in the NL West standings, 20 1/2 games behind frontrunning San Diego. Meanwhile, infielder Kelly Johnson has ripped off four straight multi-hit games and has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, recording two triples, two homers and 10 RBI.

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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.

MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.