05/12/2008 -
Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins will sure be sorry to have to leave Washington. Who can blame them? They've been there twice this season and haven't lost yet.
Uggla hit two homers Sunday to help the Marlins complete another three-game sweep of the Nationals with a 5-4 win. The day before, Uggla hit a grand slam.
Florida has won seven straight overall, its best streak since winning nine in a row in August 2006. They've also won all six games this season at Nationals Park.
``I'm not good at analyzing and knowing what's going right or anything like that,'' said Uggla, who has 11 homers. ``I'm just trying to stay aggressive, and that's about all I can tell you.''
The Marlins have relied on the homer all season. Trailing 4-2 in the eighth, Jeremy Hermida hit a two-run shot off Luis Ayala (1-3) and Uggla added his second for Florida's 53rd home run, second in the majors behind Philadelphia's 54 entering Sunday.
In other NL games, it was: New York 8, Cincinnati 3; Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3; Chicago 6, Arizona 4; San Diego 6, Colorado 1; San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 3; and Houston 8, Los Angeles 5. Rain postponed the Braves at Pirates. They'll play a doubleheader Monday.
Florida starter Scott Olsen, who gave up six hits and four runs in six innings, said he didn't have his usual stuff, but knew the offense would bail him out.
``Four runs for us can happen in a blink of an eye,'' Olsen said. ``Once they got four runs, I figured that was about it - that was as far as I could stretch them before we got the game out of hand. Our offense, all year they've been picking us up and they continued to do it today.''
Logan Kensing (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the win, and Kevin Gregg worked the ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
With the Marlins trailing 4-2 in the eighth inning, Alfredo Amezaga led off with an infield single before Hermida tied it. Then with two outs, Uggla put the Marlins ahead with a shot over the out-of-town scoreboard in right field. His fifth-inning shot went out to left-center.
``This one is a little more discouraging because everything goes through your fingers in one inning,'' Washington manager Manny Acta said.
Washington's Aaron Boone had a homer, triple and single with two RBIs in the loss.
``Everyone ought to be a little ticked off right now - anytime someone comes in and sweeps you,'' Boone said.Mets 8, Reds 3
At New York, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning to support Oliver Perez and lead the Mets over the bumbling Reds.
The Reds batted out of order in the ninth after a double switch, when backup catcher David Ross came to the plate in the No. 8 spot instead of Corey Patterson. Ross flied out to right. Once Mets manager Willie Randolph informed the umpires of the mistake, the out was charged to Patterson after a prolonged discussion by the umpires, and Ross batted again. This time, he singled.
Perez (3-3) got his first win since April 19, though the left-hander still had trouble with his command at times.
Reds rookie Johnny Cueto (2-4) allowed six runs in 4 2-3 innings.Brewers 5, Cardinals 3
At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a pair of solo home runs, Jeff Suppan (2-2) pitched seven innings and the Brewers' bullpen held on for a win over the Cardinals.
With Eric Gagne out as the closer, the Brewers turned to Salomon Torres and Brian Shouse in the ninth. Torres allowed a leadoff double and a walk before giving way to Shouse with two outs. Shouse, a left-hander, gave up an RBI single to Yadier Molina before finishing for his first save and fifth of his career.Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 4
At Chicago, pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Cubs rallied again to beat the Diamondbacks.
Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago's three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.
Tony Pena (0-1) lost.Giants 4, Phillies 3
At San Francisco, Steve Holm hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning for his first major league home run.
Holm homered on the first pitch he saw from J.C. Romero (3-1) after replacing Bengie Molina in the top of the seventh. Romero had allowed only one homer in his previous 61 appearances and came in with an 0.63 ERA over his first 17 outings of 2008.
Jack Taschner (2-0) pitched the seventh and Brian Wilson finished for his 11th save in 13 chances.Padres 6, Rockies 1
At San Diego, Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene homered to spoil Greg Reynolds' first start, leading the Padres to their first series win in nearly a month.
San Diego lost eight straight series before taking two of three from the NL champions. The Padres hadn't won a series since taking two of three at the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 11-13.
Reynolds (0-1) and Chris Young (3-3) put up zeros until Hairston hit Reynolds' first pitch of the sixth inning just a few feet inside the foul pole.Astros 8, Dodgers 5
At Los Angeles, Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Dodgers before the Astros broke out for seven hits and six runs in the eighth.
Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence had RBI singles against Jonathan Broxton (1-1), and Brad Ausmus added a two-run single against the right-hander as the Astros won for the eighth time in nine games. Houston also completed its first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 25-27, 1992.
Geoff Geary (1-1) pitched one inning for the win, and Jose Valverde got the final out for his eighth save after Doug Brocail gave up two runs in the ninth.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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New Orleans Hornets, 100-80, evening their Western Conference semifinal series
after f
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Champio
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers attempt to knot their Eastern
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tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers made it a 2-1 series with a big victory on Saturd
Oswalt, Zito square off at AT&T Park >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League's hottest team during the month of May
invades San Francisco's AT&T Park for the opener of a four-game series, as the
Houston Astros attempt to keep up their torrid stretch in tonight's matchup
with t
Jays, Tribe play doubleheader in Cleveland >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting an unscheduled day off due to bad weather,
the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays conclude a four-game series today
with a doubleheader from Progressive Field.
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Livan Hernandez
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.
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 sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.