Astros welcome Pirates to Minute Maid Park
Baseball Betting Lines
07/06/2009 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros hope to stay on the winning path when
they take on the National League Central-rival Pittsburgh Pirates tonight in
the first of three straight games from Minute Maid Park.
Houston has won seven of its last 11 games and salvaged the finale of a three-
game series at San Francisco with Sunday's 7-1 victory behind eight strong
innings of one-run ball from starter Roy Oswalt. Oswalt allowed three hits,
struck out six and walked just one batter.
"Another strong performance by Roy," Houston manager Cecil Cooper told the
Astros' site. "He started the road trip and ended the road trip with two great
performances. Last time out I thought he had good stuff, and this time his
stuff was even better. Just a great outing by Roy, and hopefully this is
something we'll see a lot of the second half. If it is, we're going to jump on
his back and ride."
Oswalt helped himself by driving in a pair of runs, while Miguel Tejada,
Hunter Pence and Jason Michaels all homered for Houston, who got three hits,
an RBI and two runs scored from Jeff Keppinger. Tejada and Pence were named to
the NL roster for next week's All-Star Game in St. Louis.
The Astros, who are four games behind the Cardinals for the NL Central lead,
will hand the ball to Mike Hampton on Monday. Hampton has won all three of his
starts against Pittsburgh this season with a 0.90 ERA and nine in a row
overall. He is 13-3 with a 2.44 earned run average through 25 games (19
starts) in this series.
Hampton is 2-2 in his last four decisions overall, and is coming off a no-
decision against San Diego on June 30. He held the Padres to a run on four
hits and one walk with six K's over six innings of a 4-3 loss. The oft-injured
lefty is 4-5 with a 4.44 ERA in 13 starts this season for the Astros, who will
also host Washington for four games on the homestand.
Pittsburgh will resume a nine-game road trip Monday in Houston and opened the
trek by losing two of three meetings at Florida. In Sunday's 5-0 loss in the
series finale at Land Shark Stadium, starter Ross Ohlendorf allowed five runs
on nine hits with three strikeouts and one walk over five innings to take the
loss for the Pirates, who have dropped two in a row and six of their last
eight contests.
"Nothing really worked for him and his stuff wasn't there. He has had a couple
of these [bad starts] this year but he has always bounced back," Pirates
manager John Russell said of his starter.
Andrew McCutchen had a pair of hits and Garrett Jones had the other hit for
the Pirates, who will also visit Philadelphia for three games on the swing. In
other team news, second baseman Freddy Sanchez was named as a reserve for the
NL roster for next week's All-Star Game. Sanchez becomes the first Pirates
player since Jason Kendall to be a three-time All-Star.
Virgil Vazquez gets the nod for the Pirates tonight and will make his third
start of the season. He is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA, and is coming off a loss to
the Chicago Cubs on July 1, when he allowed three runs and seven hits in six
innings of a 4-1 setback at PNC Park.
The righty will make his first road start of 2009 this evening and has never
faced Houston in his career.
Houston is 6-3 against Pittsburgh this season and has won 12 of the past 16
matchups between the clubs.
<< Phils try to keep perfect homestand intact against Reds
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies will try to stay unbeaten on
their current homestand when they kick off a four-game series tonight versus
the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia entered the residency having lost
<< Yanks out to cap holiday weekend with sweep of Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees shoot for their fourth straight win
this afternoon, when they try and complete a four-game sweep of the Toronto
Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
New York, which has beaten the Jays the last five times it h
<< Report: Kidd to return to Mavericks
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd has reportedly
decided to return to Dallas for the next three seasons.
According to the Dallas Morning News, team owner Mark Cuban said Kidd's deal
will be worth more than
<< Rangers' Hamilton to return Monday
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton is
expected to return to the team Monday.
Hamilton, who was voted a starting outfielder for the American League All-Star
team, has been out since June 1, when he
<< Feldman, bullpen help Rangers complete sweep of Rays
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Murphy went 3-for-3 with a run batted
in, as the Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay with a 5-2
victory over the Rays.
The Rangers also extended their overall winning streak to f
Cubs continue homestand against Braves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs will resume their 11-game homestand
tonight with the first of three straight games versus the Atlanta Braves at
Wrigley Field.
Chicago has won four of its last five games and opened the residency by
winn
Marquis goes after win No. 11 against Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Marquis will try to become the first 11-game winner
in the majors tonight, when he leads the Colorado Rockies in the first of
three straight games versus the Washington Nationals at Coors Field.
Marquis posted his NL
Nets sign first round pick Williams >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have signed
guard/forward Terrence Williams, whom they took with the 11th overall pick in
the 2009 NBA Draft.
Per team policy, details of the contract were not released.
Mariners return home to host Orioles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After acquitting themselves well on a very challenging road
trip, the Seattle Mariners return to Safeco Field tonight to play the first of
three straight meetings with the Baltimore Orioles.
Seattle is coming off a nine-
Padres, D-Backs resume NL West rivalry >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks have combined
to win three of the last four National League West titles, but reaching the
postseason seems like a longshot for both teams this season.
The two foes will be a
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.
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.”
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Bonds nearly hits HR 751, SF wins
4 and drove in
a pair of runs, and Barry Bonds nearly hit homer No. 751 as San Francisco beat
1, in the middle contest of three at AT&T Park.
6) allowed five hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings, fanning
eight and walking three.
game slide.
Bonds, who came within five homers of Hank Aaron's record on Friday, went
1 with three walks, an RBI double and scored twice. The double ...
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