Rockies try to pin ninth straight loss on reeling Padres

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres try to avoid a ninth straight loss this afternoon, when they play the middle test of their three-game series with the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park.

San Diego's slide continued in the opener of this set on Friday, as Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki each hit two-run homers that lifted the Rockies to a 4-3 win.

Aaron Cook (5-8), who was activated off the disabled list to make the start, got the win after limiting the Padres to two runs on four hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings.

The Rockies, who snapped a three-game skid, now trail the Padres by 6 1/2 games in the National League West. San Diego, though, did not lose any ground to second-place San Francisco, as the Giants lost to Los Angeles on Friday and still sit three games behind the Padres.

"I think you saw [Friday] we played a good crisp game," said Padres skipper Bud Black. The intensity is there, the focus is there, our guys want to win. I don't see us pressing."

Cory Luebke (0-1) made his major league debut for San Diego and pitched five innings in taking the loss. He walked two and allowed five hits, two of which were Colorado home runs.

Heading to the hill for the Padres this evening will be righty Jon Garland, who had a three-start winning streak stopped the last time he pitched. Garland was defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies last Saturday, as he allowed three runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-1 setback.

Garland lost to the Rockies the last time he faced them and is 1-1 with a 3.66 ERA in three starts against them.

Colorado will counter with righty Jason Hammel, who is 9-7 with a 4.32 ERA. Hammel earned his first win since August 6 Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, holding them to a pair of runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 frames. He struck out seven and walked three in the win.

Hammel defeated the Padres back on July 10 and is 2-0 lifetime against them with a 4.84 ERA in eight games, seven of which have been starts.

Colorado has won nine of its 13 meetings with the Padres in 2010, including wins in five of the seven matchups held in San Diego.

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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.