Ace hurlers face off as Orioles, ChiSox resume set

Baseball Betting Lines

04/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two unbeaten pitchers square off tonight at Baltimore's Camden Yards, where the Orioles and Chicago White Sox resume a three-game series.

Orioles ace Jeremy Guthrie is 2-0 with a 4.32 earned run average in three starts this season and is coming off a no-decision against Boston on Friday. In a 10-8 loss to the Red Sox, Guthrie was reached for eight runs -- five earned -- and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings to have a personal two-start winning streak come to an end.

The righty is winless against the White Sox in his career, going 0-2 with a 5.50 ERA in five games (3 starts).

Baltimore put the brakes on a five-game losing streak with Tuesday's 10-3 pounding of the White Sox in the opener of a nine-game homestand. Aubrey Huff clubbed a pair of two-run homers and Nick Markakis ended with four hits, three runs scored and a pair of RBI for the O's, who got three hits from Luke Scott.

Orioles starter Brad Bergesen gave up three runs -- one earned -- on four hits over 5 2/3 innings in his major league debut. Relievers Danys Baez, Chris Ray, Jim Johnson and Brian Bass took care of the Chicago batters the rest of the way.

The Orioles will also host the Rangers and Angels on this residency.

Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and Brian Anderson each recorded an RBI for Chicago, while Alexei Ramirez was the lone White Sox player to have multiple hits with two.

Chicago starter Jose Contreras continued to struggle this season and absorbed the loss after yielding six runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.

John Danks will try for a better showing for the Pale Hose tonight and is 1-0 with a microscopic 0.75 ERA in two starts this season. He did not factor in the outcome of a 2-1 loss versus Kansas City on April 9, allowing three hits over six shutout innings.

Danks then took the hill again Thursday at Tampa Bay and recorded the win with another stellar six innings of work, yielding one run and two hits during a 3-2 victory over the defending AL champions.

The bulky left-hander is 1-2 with a 5.94 earned run average through three career starts against Baltimore.

Chicago went 5-4 against Baltimore last season, with a 3-2 mark at Camden Yards.

Wwweworldcasino Baseball Betting News

<< Lee, Indians go for second straight win over Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee seems to be back on track after back-to-back losses to start the season. He will try to prove it tonight against the Kansas City Royals at Jacobs Field. Lee, who wen

<< Angels continue home series with Tigers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will try to win back-to- back games for the first time this season, as they resume a three-game series tonight with the Detroit Tigers at Angel Stadium. Having won back-to-back America

<< Philadelphia Eagles 2009 Draft Preview (Revised)
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Eagles took care of a major offseason need last week, when they acquired Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters from the Bills in a package that sent the team's No. 28 overall pick to Buffalo. With that need out of the way, Ph

<< Nats aim for sweep of Braves in DC
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals will try to continue their sudden surge this evening, as they aim for a sweep of a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park. The Nationals began the season just 1-10, a star

<< Phils, Brewers resume set in South Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time Joe Blanton faced the Brewers, he pitched the Phillies into the NLDS. Getting the Phillies over .500 tonight would be a nice encore. Philadelphia sends Blanton to the hill tonight in the second game of a thr

Dodgers aim to get back rolling in second test with Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to start a new winning streak when they resume a three-game series against the Houston Astros tonight at Minute Maid Park. Los Angeles entered Tuesday's series opener riding an eight-game t

Cards try to best Mets once again >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro tries to stay perfect on the season when he toes the rubber for the St. Louis Cardinals tonight in the middle test of a three-game series versus the New York Mets at Busch Stadium. Pineiro opened the season on

Buffalo Bills 2009 Draft Preview (Revised) >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Bills picked up an extra first-round pick (No. 28 overall) as well as a 2009 fourth-rounder when they dealt Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters to the Eagles last week, but also created a glaring need at Peters' vacated spo

Miami Dolphins 2009 Draft Preview (Revised) >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The metamorphosis continues for Bill Parcells, Tony Sparano and company, and as we found out last year, defense is at the heart of the organization's transition. With cornerback Andre' Goodman and safety Renaldo Hill now wear

Saunders to coach Wizards >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards confirmed Wednesday that Flip Saunders will become their next head coach and that he's expected to be formally introduced at a press conference Thursday. Several media outlets report

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.

American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.