Angels pay a visit to Tigers in Motown

Baseball Betting Lines

08/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Detroit Tigers are fading in their respective division-title races. Good news is that one club has to win tonight when the two teams kick off a three-game series at Comerica Park.

Both teams will be sending out their aces for tonight's openers, as the Angels' Jered Weaver opposes Justin Verlander of the Tigers in a matchup of 2004 first-round picks.

Weaver, grabbed 12th overall by the Angels, has split his last four starts despite a solid 2.33 earned run average. He is coming off a win on Sunday in which he held the Rangers to just one unearned run and four hits over seven innings, walking three and striking out seven.

The 27-year-old righty is 10-7 with a 3.04 ERA this year and has pitched at least six innings in 14 straight starts dating back to May 23.

Weaver is 2-3 with a 6.51 ERA in seven career starts versus the Tigers, losing to Verlander on May 2 after giving up four runs over 4 2/3 innings. Verlander, meanwhile, hurled 8 1/3 innings of one-run, three-hit ball that day to improve to 3-2 with a 4.44 ERA in eight matchups with the Angels.

The 27-year-old second overall pick of 2004, Verlander had a four-decision winning streak end with a loss at Tampa on July 27, then did not factor into the decision of his team's 4-3 loss at Boston on Monday. The right-hander gave up three runs on six hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts.

Verlander is 12-6 with a 3.74 ERA this year and has won five straight starts at home, where he hasn't lost since May 31 and is 7-2 with a 2.65 ERA this season.

Both the Angels and Tigers are coming off Thursday losses, with Los Angeles falling 10 games off the pace for first place in the American League West, while Detroit has dropped nine games back in the AL Central.

Los Angeles erased a four-run deficit to Baltimore in the eighth inning yesterday, getting a three-run homer from Torii Hunter in the frame and an RBI hit by Bobby Abreu. However, closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up a game-winning RBI single to Cesar Izturis in the bottom of the ninth to earn the Angels' their 11th loss in 14 games.

"I think [new O's manager Buck Showalter] really sparked those guys," Hunter said. "We just couldn't come through. They just seemed like they wanted it more."

Detroit also wasted a late rally on Thursday versus Chicago. Pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for the Tigers to force extra innings, but Jose Valverde yielded two runs in the 11th inning of a 6-4 setback.

"We got the big one there in the last inning to tie it up, but we couldn't hold it," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We didn't do much offensively the whole game."

Don Kelly also hit a solo homer as the Tigers lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

The Tigers have ripped off five straight victories over the Angels since losing the first two meetings this year. That includes a three-game sweep at home from April 30-May 2, as Detroit has won nine of the last 12 meetings.

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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.