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Lee goes for Rangers in opener with A'sBaseball Betting Lines07/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Lee only has one victory since joining the Rangers by way of a trade, but the club is expecting many more down the road. Lee will try to build off that win this evening when Texas begins a three-game series versus the Oakland Athletics at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Lee went 0-1 over his first two starts since being acquired from Seattle despite going nine innings in each of outing. He gave up eight runs in that span while only getting three runs of support, but the Rangers matched that total on Thursday versus the Angels to get Lee a 3-2 win. The 31-year-old left-hander scattered two runs and five hits over 8 1/3 innings, giving him a 3.42 earned run average in three starts with Texas and a 9-4 mark with a 2.56 ERA in 16 total 2010 starts. "Any time you get that deep into the game, and give the team a chance, you have to feel good about it," said Lee. Lee also improved to 5-4 with a 6.60 ERA in nine career starts at Rangers Ballpark and is 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA lifetime versus the Athletics. Lee gave the Rangers a victory in the opener of a key four-game set with the Angels last week. The series went Texas' way as Sunday's 6-4 win allowed them to take three out of four and leave the series with a seven-game lead over Los Angeles in the American League West standings. Josh Hamilton had three hits and drove in three runs on Sunday, while Nelson Cruz and Michael Young each had two hits and an RBI. Cruz extended his hitting streak to 14 games, hitting .414 (24-for-58) in that timeframe with a pair of homers and 14 RBI. "I was happy with our effort. We came out and played hard all four nights," Young said. "That's what we've been doing real well." Tommy Hunter improved to 8-0 on the season after holding Los Angeles to three runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings. Texas will begin a nine-game road trip on Friday versus the Angels, but first they must deal with an Oakland club that has won nine of its last 11 games. The Athletics took two of three versus the White Sox over the weekend, winning Sunday's finale, 6-4. In his second start since a disabled list stint due to an elbow injury, Dallas Braden gave up three runs over 6 1/3 innings to win for the first time in 10 starts (0-5) since his perfect game back on May 9. "A lot of things seem to get lost in that stretch ... People forget I threw a complete game after [my perfect game]. People forget about that because the win-loss [record] is so glaring," Braden said. Kurt Suzuki, who signed a four-year contract extension on Friday, drove in three runs for Oakland and is batting .412 (14-for-34) over his last nine games with a homer and six RBI. The A's will look to keep rolling tonight behind Gio Gonzalez, who has won back-to-back starts and is 3-1 over his last four outings. After throwing seven innings of one-run ball versus the Royals on July 16, the 24-year-old southpaw was charged with four runs, seven hits and two walks over six frames of a 6-4 triumph over Boston on Wednesday. Gonzalez is 9-6 with a 3.75 ERA this year and 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA in four career games versus the Rangers, two of those starts. That loss came in Texas on May 12, as he gave up four runs on nine hits over four innings. These two clubs have split six meetings so far this year, with the Rangers taking two of three at home from May 11-13.
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Betting FootballNFL 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. |
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