08/15/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves are currently riding four-game losing streaks. One of those clubs will get back on track tonight, when Atlanta hosts San Francisco in the opener of a four-game series at Turner Field.
After dropping the finale of a four-game set to Arizona, the Braves then lost all three games of their recent series with the Chicago Cubs. San Francisco, meanwhile, was just swept in a four-game series by Houston.
After scoring a total of just two runs over the first two games in its set with Chicago, Atlanta managed seven in Thursday's finale. That wasn't enough, however, in an 11-7 setback.
Tom Glavine (2-4) did not fare well in his first start since June 10, lasting only four innings and giving up seven runs on seven hits. The left-hander had been sidelined with a sore left elbow.
Mark Kotsay, though, become the first Braves hitter to hit for the cycle since Albert Hall on September 23, 1987 on Thursday. He went 5-for-5 with two RBI in the loss.
Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-5 -- including a homer -- with three RBI and two runs scored as the Braves fell to 33-28 at home this year.
The Giants also had trouble scoring runs in their series with the Astros, getting outscored 28-11 over the four games. To make matters worse, outfielder Aaron Rowand left Thursday's 7-4 loss with lower back tightness. Rowand, in his first year with the Giants, leads the club with 11 homers to go along with .286 average and 62 RBI and is day-to-day with the ailment.
Fred Lewis homered for San Francisco, which had won three of four before the sweep and is now 26-34 on the road.
The Braves and Giants just met last week in San Francisco for three games, with the Giants taking two of those tests. Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens and Matt Cain of San Francisco squared off the August 4th opener, and will do so again tonight.
Cain picked up the win on that day, allowing just a run on five hits and five walks over 6 2/3 innings. That improved him to 1-1 with a 4.76 earned run average in three career starts versus the Braves.
The tough-luck right-hander went just 2-1 despite a 0.79 ERA in a three-start span before getting a no-decision against the Dodgers on Sunday. He was tagged for four runs on six hits over seven innings on that day. On the season, Cain is 7-9 with a 3.67 ERA.
Atlanta's Rookie of the Year candidate Jurrjens allowed four runs (3 earned) on nine hits over six innings against Cain and the Giants in what was his first career appearance against the club.
He returned on Saturday to snap a two-start skid, defeating Arizona to improve to 11-7 with a 3.18 ERA on the season. He held the Diamondbacks to four runs (3 earned) on seven hits over six innings, while striking out six.
<< U.S. men announce roster for World Cup qualifier
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States mens national team coach Bob
Bradley named a 17-player roster Thursday that will travel to face Guatemala
in the team's first game of the semifinal round of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA
World
<< White Sox surge ahead despite injuries
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The recipe for a postseason push generally doesn't include
an unsettled starting rotation as part of the ingredients.
The Chicago White Sox (68-52), who hold a one-game lead over the Minnesota
Twins in the American League
<< First-place Mets head to Pittsburgh for weekend set
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now alone in first place in the National League East, the
New York Mets begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight at
PNC Park.
The Mets are aiming to take advantage of a weak portion of their schedule
<< Diamondbacks send Webb to hill against red-hot Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Webb will attempt to extend his major-league win
total when he takes the mound tonight. More importantly, the All-Star hurler
will be vying to pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks back into sole possession of
first place in
AC Milan's Simic transfers to Monaco >>
Monaco, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatia central defender Dario Simic has
left AC Milan to join French club Monaco on a two-year contract, the clubs
announced Friday.
The 32-year-old, who has won 99 caps for his country and
Twins hoping to capitalize on homestand >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With only six weeks remaining in the regular season, each
turn of the schedule has more and more significance.
For the Minnesota Twins (67-53), their current nine-game homestand presents a
huge opportunity to gain some gro
Newman joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 >>
Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart has named Ryan Newman as the
second driver of Stewart-Haas Racing. Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 champion,
will drive the No.4 Chevrolet for the team, starting next year.
The announcement w
Inverness signs striker Rooney from Stoke City >>
Iverness, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inverness signed striker Adam Rooney from
Stoke City on a three-year deal Friday.
The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international was expected to join the SPL
side on loan, but the two clubs agreed to
American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies
It's that time of year folks. Betting on American Idol Season 9. And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below. With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.
No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.
Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.
Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.
Odds to Win
There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.
All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.
A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.
Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.
Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol.
Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.
If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.
Elimination Props
Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.
Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.
Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups
The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.
Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting