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04/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles aim for their second consecutive three-game sweep at home, while the Toronto Blue Jays hope to avoid yet another loss when the divisional foes complete their weekend series today at Camden Yards.
Baltimore posted its seventh victory in eight games and dealt the reeling Blue Jays a fourth straight defeat with Saturday's 5-2 triumph. Miguel Tejada drove in a pair of runs for the red-hot Orioles, while Chris Gomez finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Orioles starter Adam Loewen (2-0) worked around a career-high seven walks to pick up his second win of the season. The young left-hander held Toronto to two runs over his 5 2/3-inning stint before Chad Bradford and Danys Baez combined for 2 1/3 frames of one-hit relief.
Chris Ray worked a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
Former Oriole Josh Towers (1-2) was battered for five runs -- four earned -- and nine hits in five-plus innings for Toronto. Alex Rios was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and a run scored in the loss.
Baltimore has now won five in a row at Camden Yards and is off to a 6-2 start at home this season. The Orioles won all three meetings with Kansas City from April 12-14 in their prior series as the host.
The Blue Jays turn to Gustavo Chacin in hopes of reversing their recent fortunes this afternoon.
Chacin delivered a gem his last time out, as the Venezuelan lefty limited Boston to a run on six hits over a season-high 6 2/3 innings to help Toronto to a 2-1 victory on Tuesday. It was the second straight winning start for Chacin, who defeated Kansas City with five frames of three-run ball on April 11.
The 26-year-old, who has issued only one walk in 17 2/3 innings of work thus far in 2007, is 2-3 lifetime against Baltimore despite pitching to a 2.95 earned run average in six starts versus the Orioles. Chacin has also had success at Camden Yards, where he has surrendered just four runs over 20 2/3 innings in three career outings.
Baltimore will hand the ball today to Steve Trachsel and hope the veteran can rebound from a rough outing Tuesday at Tampa Bay. The 36-year-old lasted just 3 2/3 frames against the Devil Rays and was charged with six runs, all of which were scored in the fourth inning, on six hits. He also walked three and was dealt his first loss of the season.
Prior to that start, Trachsel held Kansas City to a run and three hits over seven strong innings during his Camden Yards debut in an Orioles uniform. He did not receive a decision, however, in a game Baltimore eventually won in extra innings.
Trachsel does bring a 3-0 record and a 3.20 ERA over four career starts against Toronto into this afternoon's tilt. He faced the Blue Jays once while with the Mets last season and picked up a victory on June 25 after giving up four runs in five innings.
Baltimore has won seven of its last 11 from Toronto at home but has not swept a three-game series from the Blue Jays at Camden Yards since May 9-11, 1994.
<< Indians, Devil Rays to complete evenly-played series
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jake Westbrook attempts to rebound from a dreadful
performance in his last start when he takes the mound today for the Cleveland
Indians in the rubber match of a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays fr
<< White Sox shoot for impressive Comerica sweep of Tigers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Chicago White Sox attempt to nail down a fifth
consecutive victory, as well as an impressive sweep of the Detroit Tigers,
when the two American League Central rivals complete their three-game series
this af
<< Nadal tops Federer to win third straight Monte Carlo title
Monte Carlo, Monaco (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal became the first player
in over 30 years to win three straight Monte Carlo titles by besting world No.
1 Roger Federer in straight sets on Sunday.
The clay-court specialist handled th
<< Cavs host banged-up Wizards in Game 1
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers welcome the seventh-
seeded Washington Wizards this afternoon to Quicken Loans Arena for Game 1 of
the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
This is a best-of-seven series. Game 2 is
Reds hanging on in Central >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Reds are 9-9 and good enough for third place in the
National League's Central Division entering their series finale with the
Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
One last game with the Phillies remains and the Reds will se
Sliding Mariners turn to ex-Angel Weaver in finale >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his first start against the Los Angeles Angels of
Anaheim since his ill-fated tenure with the club ended midway through last
season, Jeff Weaver will attempt to help the Seattle Mariners avoid a three-
game sw
Cardinals play rubber match with Cubs at Wrigley >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs try to win their first home series of
the season this afternoon when they play the rubber match of their three-game
series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
After losing the opener of the se
Nationals, Marlins wrap up set in Miami >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wes Obermueller makes his first start since 2005 this
afternoon when the Florida Marlins play the rubber match of their three-game
series with the Washington Nationals at Dolphin Stadium.
Obermueller, who was 0-1 with a 2
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. “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).
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.
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.”
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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