Rangers hope to avoid sweep at hands of Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

08/31/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers starter Kevin Millwood has gone the distance for his ballclub in consecutive starts, and will try for a third straight solid outing when he takes the ball today in the finale of a four-game series against the LA Angels of Anaheim.

Millwood was 0-3 in four starts before tossing a complete-game gem versus Detroit on August 20 in Arlington. He allowed one run and six hits in the 9-1 victory to snap the winless funk. Millwood then took the hill six days later at Kansas City and yielded just a run and nine hits in a 2-1 victory for his third complete game of the season and 17th of his career.

The last Rangers pitcher to throw three straight complete-game victories was Kenny Rogers back in 1994.

Millwood, a right-hander, will take on the Angels for the third time in 2008 and is 0-1 in two starts. Millwood owns a 2-3 mark and a 3.72 earned run average through nine career appearances against Anaheim.

Millwood and the Rangers will try to avoid a four-game sweep this afternoon. In Saturday's 4-3 setback in the third test of this series, Scott Feldman absorbed the loss after surrendering all four runs on eight hits and a walk in six innings of work. Milton Bradley and Hank Blalock each added a pair of hits, while Gerald Laird drove in two runs in defeat.

Rangers All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton left the game with pain due to the root canal work he had done earlier this week and was replaced in the lineup by Brandon Boggs. Hamilton could miss today's game as well, and leads the majors with 116 RBI.

Texas is 3-3 on a seven-game road trip and 33-38 away from Arlington this season.

The American League West-leading LA Angels of Anaheim pushed their division advantage to 18 games over Texas and trimmed its magic number to nine. The Angels are in hot pursuit of winning the AL West for the fourth time in five years after Saturday's 4-3 triumph.

Torii Hunter finished 2-for-4 and drove in the tying run on a groundout, while Juan Rivera plated Vladimir Guerrero on a sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run in the sixth inning for Anaheim, which is one-half game behind Tampa Bay in the race for the AL's best record and home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Starter Jered Weaver gave up three runs on five hits and two walks in five- plus innings, and struck out six batters in the no-decision. Jose Arredondo picked up the win after tossing two scoreless relief innings before Francisco Rodriguez registered his 53rd save with a perfect ninth.

Toeing the rubber for the Angels today will be John Lackey. Lackey, a 19-game winner from a year ago, is 5-0 through his last nine starts and previously pitched on August 26 versus Oakland, recording a complete-game effort after allowing just a run and four hits in nine innings.

Lackey, who is 5-1 in 10 home starts this season, has pitched the Angels to a 7-2 mark over his past nine starts. He is 9-8 with a 5.39 earned run average in 24 career starts against the Rangers.

The veteran right-hander faced Texas on July 10 this season in a 11-10 win and luckily did not factor in the outcome. Lackey was rocked for six runs and 15 hits in 5 2/3 innings of work.

The Angels have won eight of their 12 matchups with the Rangers this season.

Sauclub Baseball Betting News

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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SPORTS BETTING

NFL Football Betting Online

In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.

It is called the "pointspread."

Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.

But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.

A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.

In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.

The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere.

Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.

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