Slumping Diamondbacks visit Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The slumping Arizona Diamondbacks head to New York in hopes of notching a rare road win when they open a three-game weekend series with the Mets at Citi Field.

The Diamondbacks, now 24 games off the pace in the National League's West Division, have lost seven straight games as they head to Queens, including three straight at Philadelphia in a series that concluded Thursday night.

Wilson Valdez helped the Phillies celebrate the acquisition of pitcher Roy Oswalt with an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning for a 3-2 win.

Miguel Montero hit his third home run of the season and finished with two RBI for the Diamondbacks.

Joe Saunders made his first start with the D'Backs after he was traded to Arizona in the Dan Haren deal on Sunday. Saunders was charged with two runs on nine hits and four strikeouts over seven innings.

Cody Ransom drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the 11th off of Esmerling Vasquez (1-4) and moved to second base when Carlos Ruiz singled. Valdez then stepped to the plate and laced a base hit to center field. The throw from Chris Young partially hit the pitcher's mound, which helped Ransom slide safely into home plate as the Phillies celebrated the victory.

Arizona has won just 13 of 49 road games so far in 2010.

On the mound, right-hander Ian Kennedy makes his second start against the Mets in 11 days.

He earned a 13-2 victory in the initial matchup on July 19 in Phoenix, allowing four hits and a run in five innings to notch his fifth victory of the season.

One start since ended in loss No. 8 for Kennedy, who was touched for six hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 10-4 defeat against San Francisco.

He is 2-5 in 10 road starts with a 4.70 earned run average.

For the Mets, 6-foot-7 right-hander Mike Pelfrey can erase the bad taste from the aforementioned July 19 game.

The 26-year-old was raked for seven hits and six runs while retiring only four batters and walking two against the Diamondbacks, who handed him his third straight loss since starting the year at 10-2.

Pelfrey, the ninth overall draft selection in 2005, hasn't won since a 5-2 interleague defeat of Minnesota on June 25.

He is winless in six career matchups with Arizona, going 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA. However, he is 6-2 in 11 home starts in 2010.

On Thursday, rookie Ike Davis hit a three-run homer and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey went 8 1/3 innings as the Mets earned a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a three-game home set.

Angel Pagan chipped in two hits including a triple and scored twice, while Carlos Beltran contributed a run-scoring single for the Mets, who won for only the third time in the last 10 games.

Dickey (7-4), who was working on three days rest after exiting his last start on Sunday with a left leg injury after 5 2/3 innings, was sensational. He yielded only four hits, finishing with two strikeouts and a pair of walks. Francisco Rodriguez retired the final two batters in the ninth to pick up his 22nd save of the season.

The Diamondbacks swept a three-game set at home over the Mets from July 19-21 and have won seven of the last eight in the series.

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.