05/11/2008 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emil Brown finished with four runs batted in, including a three-run homer, as the Oakland Athletics avoided a weekend sweep and clobbered the Texas Rangers, 12-6.
Daric Barton hit a two-run homer and Frank Thomas had two RBI. Mark Ellis went 3-for-5 for Oakland, which halted a two-game losing streak and has won five of seven overall.
A's starter Rich Harden was roughed up after being activated from the disabled list before the game, lasting only 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and four walks. Harden, who had been out since early April with a strained right shoulder, struck out five.
"I went out there and felt strong," Harden said. "I just threw too many pitches. It wasn't the prettiest game but I'm just glad to be back."
The A's pitching finally settled down in the latter stages, getting 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief from Santiago Casilla (2-0), Alan Embree and Huston Street to close out the game.
Ian Kinsler went 3-for-5, scoring twice with a run batted in for Texas. Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in two runs.
Texas starter Sidney Ponson lasted 5 1/3 innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits and five walks.
The loss halted a five-game win streak for Texas, which lost for just the third time in its last 12 contests.
Oakland jumped on top for good in the seventh with two runs during a back and forth affair. Bobby Crosby doubled and Ellis singled. Franklyn German (1-1) threw to first on a pick-off try and had Ellis hung up going to second, but forgot about Crosby, who raced home just ahead of the tag for the go-ahead run. Jack Hannahan singled and Jamey Wright then came in from the bullpen, but Ryan Sweeney lofted a sacrifice fly to center for an 8-6 Oakland lead.
The A's added a run in the eighth on an RBI single from Brown and three in the ninth on a two-run home run from Barton, and pinch-runner Donnie Murphy scored on an errant throw from Saltalamacchia on a double steal attempt.
The A's scored four runs in the first off Ponson. Mike Sweeney took first after being hit by a pitch with one out, Jack Cust doubled and Thomas singled to center for a 1-0 lead. Brown followed taking a first-pitch fastball to the left field seats.
Texas got one back in the bottom half on consecutive two-out doubles from Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley and added another in the second on a Kinsler RBI single to center.
The Rangers picked up two more in the third to tie the game. Texas loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a base hit before Saltalamacchia singled to right scoring two, but then overslid the base at second for the third out.
Hamilton tripled in Kinsler in the fourth, but Oakland scored twice in the sixth to assume a 6-5 edge. The A's loaded the bases on a single and two walks with one out. Ponson walked Cust to force in a run before he was lifted in favor of German, who gave up a sac fly to Thomas.
Texas came right back in the bottom half and tied it on a Michael Young RBI single.
Game Notes
Texas continues its homestand, opening a three-game set with Seattle on Monday...Oakland stays on the road heading to Cleveland for a three-game, beginning Tuesday...Thomas has 1,695 RBI, tying Cal Ripken Jr. for 21st on the all-time list.
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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. “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).
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.
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.”
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