Angels aim to further bury struggling A's

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are set to play the second contest of a three-game weekend series from the Coliseum this evening.

Pitcher Scott Kazmir has fallen far short of expectations for the Angels this season, a major reason that the team continues to trail division-leading Texas in the American League West race. Kazmir is 7-8 with a 5.98 ERA for the year and was torched for seven earned runs in 6 1/3 innings by the White Sox on Monday. The hard-throwing lefty has only struck out 58 batters in 87 1/3 innings while walking 46.

Kazmir did win his only previous start against Oakland this season and is 9-3 lifetime with a 2.85 ERA versus the Athletics.

A's starter Ben Sheets is just 3-8 this season with a 4.89 ERA, but there is reason for optimism in Oakland. The big righty, who takes the mound tonight, allowed three earned runs over a season-high 7 1/3 innings Monday against the New York Yankees, and while that game did end in defeat, Sheets finally feels back to form after missing last season due to elbow surgery.

Sheets has faced the Angels four times in his career, and while his 3.67 ERA against the squad is solid, he has yet to win a game (0-2).

Erick Aybar's leadoff homer in the 10th proved to be the difference in Friday's series opener as the Angels defeated the A's, 6-5, despite squandering three different leads.

Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu each added a two-run homer for the Angels, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Hideki Matsui added a sacrifice fly in the victory.

"We need to focus on our club, not who we're playing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after the game. "We have a lot of things on our club we need to tighten up a little bit, do more consistently. Obviously, out of the batter's box we did a better job tonight and got the win."

Joel Pineiro was in line for the win after allowing three runs in seven solid innings, but the Angels righty had his six-start win streak snapped after Fernando Rodney gave up two runs in the eighth. Kevin Jepsen (1-1) received the win and Brian Fuentes recorded his 16th save by throwing the ninth.

Jack Cust hit a solo home run for the Athletics, who have lost four in a row. Kevin Kouzmanoff finished with two hits and Coco Crisp had an RBI in defeat.

Vin Mazzaro yielded three runs, four hits and three walks in a seven-inning start for Oakland, while Andrew Bailey (0-3) was saddled with the loss after giving up Aybar's game-winning homer.

"You really want to win that first one, especially after getting swept by the Yankees," Bailey said. "It's a tough loss. We have to do our jobs and win the next two."

The Angels have won seven of 11 meetings with Oakland this season and are 11-4 in the 15 most recent contests between the AL West foes.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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