Royals start homestand with Oakland in town

Baseball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams trying to climb into contention in the American League start up their post-All Star break schedules this evening at Kauffman Stadium, where the Kansas City Royals open up a six-game homestand with the first of three consecutive meetings with the Oakland Athletics.

Both clubs enter this series on the outside of the AL's playoff picture. The Athletics presently sit in third place in the West Division, eight games behind first-place Texas, while the Royals -- a team which hasn't reached the postseason since 1985 -- are 11 games in back of the Chicago White Sox in the race for the top spot in the AL Central.

Oakland will be heading into the second half carrying a bit of momentum after taking the final two tests of a three-game home set with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this past weekend. In Sunday's rubber match, All-Star selection Trevor Cahill delivered seven outstanding innings to win his ninth game of the year and lead the A's to a 5-2 triumph.

Cahill (9-3) limited the Angels to one unearned run and five hits to close out an excellent first half for the sophomore hurler. He received support from a two-run homer by Jack Cust, with Adam Rosales also knocking in a pair of runs for Oakland with a sixth-inning single.

Cust finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Kurt Suzuki went 3-for-3 with an RBI single for the Athletics, who had lost four in a row prior to a 15-1 shellacking of the Angels on Saturday.

"Sometimes things go bad in this game, but you have to keep on grinding away," said Suzuki after Sunday's victory. "We're not that far behind. We've got a lot of games left."

Cahill was not eligible to participate in the AL's 3-1 loss to the National League in the All-Star Game because he had started the first-half finale. Teammate Andrew Bailey, a late addition to the AL squad, did work one-third of an inning in Tuesday's Midsummer Classic and picked up a save by throwing a scoreless ninth in Sunday's victory.

Kansas City went into the break on a down note, suffering a three-game sweep by the resurgent White Sox in Chicago over the weekend. The team's pitching was hit hard in Sunday's finale, as the Sox belted five home runs and pounded out 18 total hits en route to a 15-5 rout.

Emergency starter Anthony Lerew (1-3) served up four of Chicago's homers and was rocked for eight runs and nine hits before exiting after only 2 2/3 innings. Relievers Dusty Hughes, Victor Marte and Kyle Farnsworth were each reached for two or more runs in the Royals' worst pitching performance of the season.

"It was just one of those days," manager Ned Yost told Kansas City's official site. "We got balls up and [the White Sox] hammered 'em. They've got good power and they're hot. Put that combination together in this ballpark where the ball flies anyway. When we got the ball up, they didn't miss it."

Jose Guillen went 2-for-3 for the Royals and hit his 15th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the top of the fourth.

Lerew was handed the start when Kansas City scratched ace Zack Greinke prior to the game because of mild discomfort in his throwing shoulder. The move was clearly precautionary, as the 2009 AL Cy Young Award recipient will get the call for the Royals in tonight's opener.

Greinke has been on a roll lately after a frustrating beginning to his 2010 season. After losing eight of his first nine decisions and often being plagued by a lack of offensive support, the standout right-hander has gone 4-0 with a 3.00 earned run average over his last five starts and has lasted at least seven innings in each of those games.

The 26-year-old was last in action on July 6, when Greinke yielded one unearned run and a mere two hits while striking out nine Seattle batters over seven innings to best the Mariners.

Greinke also won his only start against the A's during his Cy Young campaign of 2009, allowing three runs through seven innings last August at Kauffman Stadium, and sports a 4-0 record with a 2.88 ERA in 11 career encounters (seven starts) with Oakland.

Gio Gonzalez will oppose Greinke this evening and aims to build off a solid first 2 1/2 months of the season. The young left-hander produced a 7-6 record and a 3.79 ERA in 18 starts and has held opposing hitters to a .238 average at the plate.

Gonzalez did struggle his last time out, though, surrendering five runs and eight hits while issuing five walks in a four-inning loss to the New York Yankees on July 7. That put an end to an outstanding three-start stretch in which he permitted only two runs -- one earned -- over a span of 19 2/3 innings.

The 24-year-old is 0-1 with a subpar 7.71 ERA in two previous starts against the Royals. That one loss took place at Kauffman Stadium during September of 2008, with Gonzalez giving up four runs (three earned) and a pair of homers in just four innings.

Tonight's matchup marks the first meeting between these teams of 2010. Oakland won six of eight bouts with Kansas City last season, including two of three games held at Kauffman Stadium.

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MySportsbook.com Posts Heisman Trophy Odds

With 3,919 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a mere seven interceptions last season, combined with a powerful South Bend Heisman legacy, odds makers at MySportsbook.com have given Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn the best Heisman Trophy odds at 5-2.

Quinn isn’t the only big man on campus this season.  Oklahoma junior running back and 2004 Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson, listed at 7-2, rushed for a combined 3,033 yards in his first two years as a college player and will give Quinn a run for his money. 

This online sportsbook has also listed Troy Smith, Ohio State senior quarterback, as another strong favorite to win the 72nd Heisman Trophy.  A 7-1 bet, Smith threw for 2,282 yards last season and also led the Buckeyes to a convincing 34-20 victory over Quinn and the Fighting Irish in last season’s Fiesta Bowl.

Current betting odds Heisman trophy are:

Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)
Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)
Troy Smith (QB, Ohio State)
Michael Bush (RB, Louisville)
Steve Slaton (RB, West Virginia)
Brian Brohm (QB, Louisville)
Chris Leak (QB, Florida)
Mike Hart (RB, Michigan)
Ted Ginn (WR, Ohio State)
Darius Walker (RB, Notre Dame)
Drew Tate (QB, Iowa)
Marshawn Lynch (RB, Cal)
Kenny Irons (RB, Auburn)
Chad Henne (QB, Michigan)
Kyle Wright (QB, Miami)
Drew Stanton (QB, Michigan State)
Kenneth Darby (RB, Alabama)
JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU)
Drew Weatherford (QB, Florida State)
Blake Mitchell (QB, South Carolina)
Reggie Ball (QB, Georgia Tech)		 5-2
7-2
7-1
10-1
10-1
12-1
12-1
18-1
18-1
20-1
30-1
35-1
35-1
40-1
50-1
50-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1

For complete NCAA Football odds visit MySportsbook.com.

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.