Owings homers, pitches Reds over Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Micah Owings tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and hit his third home run of the year, lifting Cincinnati to a 5-2 victory against St. Louis in the second of three games between these NL Central rivals.

Joey Votto also homered and tripled, knocking in two, while Willy Taveras collected three hits and scored a run for the Reds, who had won four of five before dropping the opener to this set.

Owings (6-8) won for the third time in four starts, allowing six hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Francisco Cordero picked up his 20th save of the season by hurling a perfect ninth.

Brad Thompson (2-5) took the loss after lasting five frames and yielding five runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and two walks. Colby Rasmus hit a solo home run for the Cardinals, who had a three-game win streak broken.

St. Louis gained a short-lived lead on Rasmus' solo shot in the first, but Cincy tied it up in the home half when Taveras singled, stole second and scored easily on Votto's triple to right.

Owings helped himself with a solo blast to center the very next inning and the Reds went on to back his effort on the mound with three runs in the next two frames for a 5-1 lead.

A pair of errors in the third allowed Brandon Phillips first to reach base and score, and Votto began the fifth with his 10th home run of the year. Jerry Hairston Jr. plated Phillips with a fielder's choice later in the frame for the four-run advantage.

The Cards got one back in the sixth when Albert Pujols singled, advanced on a Chris Duncan walk and then on a fielder's choice before scoring on an errant throw from right following a Yadier Molina fly ball.

Nick Masset got Pujols to ground out to end the seventh with two on, and Arthur Rhodes tossed a scoreless eighth prior to Cordero shutting the door in the ninth.

Game Notes

Cincinnati gained a 5-4 lead in the season series with the win...Skip Schumaker had two of the Cardinals' eight hits...Taveras swiped his 16th bag of the year...St. Louis was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while Cincinnati was 1-for-11.

Wwmajorleaguebaseball Baseball Betting News

<< McGehee misses cycle, but his big day helps Brewers crush Cubs
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey McGehee finished with four hits, a double short of a cycle, and drove in five to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to an 11-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. Mike Cameron was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer and

<< Nats rally in the eighth off Braves bullpen
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Dunn hit his 300th career home run and drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single during a four-run eighth, as Washington topped Atlanta, 5-3, halting the Braves' season-high win streak at five ga

<< New jockey for Mine That Bird on the horizon
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chip Woolley, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, indicated Saturday that an announcement on a new rider for the three-year-old could come as soon as Sunday morning. Earlier in the week Ca

<< D'Backs activate Petit off DL for Saturday start
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks have activated right-hander Yusmeiro Petit from the 15-day disabled list to start Saturday's game versus Colorado. Petit has been shelved since May 9 with a right shoulde

<< Nestor/Zimonjic beat Bryans for Wimbledon doubles crown
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic repeated as men's doubles champions at Wimbledon Saturday, beating the top-seeded American twin Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, in four sets. Nestor and

Woodward's ninth-inning hit sends M's past Sox >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Woodward knocked in the deciding run in the ninth inning as Seattle clipped Boston, 3-2, in the middle contest of three at Fenway Park. Russell Branyan added a pair of RBI for the M

Callaspo and KC snap ChiSox winning streak >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alberto Callaspo went 2-for-3 and hit the go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning, as the Kansas City Royals came back to top the White Sox, 6-4, and snap Chicago's seven-game win streak. Callaspo

Mike Smith back on Mine That Bird >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eclipse Award winning jockey Mike Smith has regained the mount on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird. Smith has a two- race commitment to ride the gelding starting with the West Virginia Derby on Saturda

Wang leaves game >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang left Saturday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a shoulder injury. Wang departed in the sixth inning with a right shoulder strain, and is scheduled to

Yi shoots 61 for Jamie Farr lead >>
Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Korea's Eunjung Yi fired a 10-under 61 and took the third-round lead Saturday at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. Yi holed out from the fairway for an eagle at No. 10 and collected eight birdies in a flaw

MySportsbook.com is operated by Sportingbet, a UK gambling company which is publicly traded on the AIM on the London Stock Exchange.

Sportingbet easily forms the world's largest Internet gaming company, with a truly global outreach. This also provides added transparency and accountability to this online Sportsbook and thus provides more safety and security for our customers. MySportsbook offers betting lines on all major sporting events. Our staff of almost 400 people includes clerks ready 365 days a year, 24 hours a day to care for your needs.

MySportsbook's competent, experienced managerial staff and personnel are backed by a state-of-the art sports wagering software.

We offer a 15% sign-up bonus to new customers who use Neteller for deposit and 10% bonus for all other deposit methods. Casino clients can take advantage of a 5% cash back monthly. Clients are also eligible for a 5% re-up bonus on subsequent deposits and 10% cash back on NFL losses.* Our instant-play flash casino is no-download, just click and go to a wide range of games including online Blackjack, 3-Card Poker, Craps, Baccarat, Roulette and Pai-Gow Poker, as well as a variety of slots and video poker games for the complete online casino Las Vegas experience.

My Sports book accepts all credit cards, online checks, Neteller, Firepay and bank wires. MySportsbook guarantees prompt, hassle-free payouts, as well as unparalleled individual attention from its acclaimed customer service department.

To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

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. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

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).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

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.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

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.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.