Roberts, Orioles top Yanks to start series in Bronx
Baseball Betting Lines
09/06/2010 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Roberts' seventh inning single drove in the winning run as Baltimore downed New York, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game set.
Roberts finished 3-for-5 with two RBI while Matt Wieters knocked in a run and walked twice for the Orioles, who won their third straight in manager Buck Showalter's return to the Bronx.
Brian Matusz (8-12) picked up the win after allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts over six innings, and Koji Uehara sewed up the victory by retiring the side in order in the ninth to earn his seventh save for the Birds, who have won three straight against the top two teams in the division.
A.J. Burnett (10-13) was tagged with the loss after yielding all four runs on seven hits and four walks while fanning five over seven innings for New York, which saw its lead trimmed to two games in the AL East over Tampa Bay, which plays later this evening at Boston.
Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run in defeat for New York, his first since coming off the disabled list Sunday and the 605th of his career.
After the Yankees had scored twice in the home sixth to tie the game at three, the visitors produced the decisive run in the next half inning.
Corey Patterson led off with a single, moved to second base on a Cesar Izturis sacrifice bunt and scored on Roberts' single to right.
Josh Bell doubled to open the third, advanced on a Roberts single and scored the game's first run when Felix Pie grounded into a 3-6-3 double play.
Rodriguez's long ball to left with two outs in the fourth tied the game.
The visitors regained the lead in the fifth when Izturis doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Roberts, who was thrown out at second base to end the inning.
Pie singled to start the six and then advanced to third after a Nick Markakis walk and a wild pitch before coming into score on a Wieters sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game.
Nick Swisher opened the home half of the inning with a walk that was followed by a Mark Teixeira single. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Swisher came home on a Rodriguez sacrifice fly before Robinson Cano's single fell in between the shortstop Izturis and left fielder Pie to chase home Teixeira.
Game Notes
Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of former Baltimore shortstop/third baseman Cal Ripken, Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig's historic consecutive games played mark. On September 6 the following year, Eddie Murray belted the 500th home run of his Hall of Fame career in his return to Baltimore off Detroit's Felipe Lira. Matusz improved to 2-3 in five career turns against New York with both of his wins coming at Yankee Stadium...Roberts has hit safely in six straight games. Weiters had a seven-game hit streak snapped, while Markakis went 1-for-3 and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games...The Yankees lead the season series, 10-3, including a 6-1 record at home...Burnett has allowed the first run of the game in 18 of his 28 starts. He is 2-2 against the Birds this year and 11-4 in 17 career starts...New York's Brett Gardner had a streak of drawing a walk in 10 straight games snapped...The Yankees concluded a stretch of five straight home day games which they had played since April 8-14, 2004 against the White Sox and Tampa Bay.
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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro
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.
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