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05/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When it comes to wagering on baseball, gamblers usually shy away from the unknown. It's easy to back the likes of Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay, but putting your money on rookies is another story.
However, don't take these inexperienced pitchers lightly. Even though most bettors have never seen them on the mound, it also stands to reason the opposition hasn't either. And that leads to a very important angle - never let a great opportunity to make money pass you by.
Some of these young pitchers have already become key members in their club's rotation while others have been used as spot starters due to injury. Whatever the case may be, their mound success has translated to a lot of green in one's wallet if he/she has been paying attention.
All in all, nine pitchers with fewer than five career starts (and less than four years experience) have combined for an incredible +1,147 units in a little over one month's worth of action. Three of the nine stand out above the rest since they have accounted for 15 of the 24 starts, but don't shy away from the others since they've accumulated a bankroll of over $400.
THE BIG THREE
The first of the five-start hurlers is Jaime Garcia. The Cardinals' fifth starter is 3-1 this season with an amazing 1.13 ERA. More importantly, since he's behind the likes of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright in the rotation, he's flown well below the radar even in his last two starts.
Garcia and the Cards were only -113 favorites at Philadelphia earlier in the week, against a pitcher in Joe Blanton who was making his first start of the year. St. Louis roughed up Blanton for 10 hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings en route to the 6-3 road victory.
In his prior outing, Garcia and two relievers shut out the Braves, 6-0 - his second straight amazing performance at Busch Stadium. Earlier in the season, Garcia held the Mets scoreless on just one hit through seven innings.
It's still early in the season but the kid picked in the 22nd round back in 2005 has given up only five hits and zero runs in 14 home frames. Garcia is only +128 units in five starts, but until opposing hitters get the best of him, look for that total to rise in the coming months.
Cincinnati's Mike Leake came into the big leagues off one of the finest college seasons in recent memory. The righthander finished his junior year at Arizona State 16-1 with a 1.71 ERA, becoming the first starter in Pac-10 history to win back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards.
He also damaged opposing hurlers his final two seasons, batting .325 with 15 RBI in 80 at-bats.
Stephen Strasburg received almost all the attention at last year's draft, but Leake has gotten the jump on his counterpart with five starts already on his resume. The 22-year-old has won just two of those outings but the Reds are 4-1 in those games. Furthermore, Leake has yet to lose and his ERA is a healthy 2.94.
Control was an issue early in the year with 12 walks in his first 13 2/3 innings. However, the California native has gained a better command of his pitches of late, going 20 frames with just four bases-on-balls. Leake is also helping himself at the plate, batting .364 with four hits in 11 at-bats.
All that success explains why the eighth player selected in last year's draft is +314 units.
The final starter of the bunch hurls for another team from the Midwest.
Cleveland's Mitch Talbot has not received any of the accolades heaped upon either Garcia or Leake, but has been even more effective when it comes to the gambling side of baseball.
The former Tampa Bay pitcher started slowly in 2010, allowing four runs in a 4-2 loss at Detroit but since then, he's reeled off three wins in four starts with a 2.15 ERA. That success has his backers holding $364 since his initial start on April 10.
SPOT STARTERS COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
There have been nine other starts this season from six pitchers with fewer than five career starts and less than four years experience. What might be a surprising statistic to some is that three of the six hurlers came through with victories, while two others helped their team to "W's" even though each failed to pick up the win.
Luis Atilano leads the bunch with two victories - both times as the underdog. The rookie stepped in when Jason Marquis went down with an elbow injury, and proceeded to win his first two big-league starts at +119 and +192 units.
On May 3, Cesar Valdez did the same in place of Kris Benson, giving up only one run in five innings as the Diamondbacks routed the Astros, 9-1.
One day earlier, Jhoulys Chacin allowed only one hit through seven frames, leading the Rockies past the Giants. Since Chacin squared off against Jonathan Sanchez and his 1.85 ERA, Colorado was +140 units...a nice score as a road underdog.
On May 1, Dodgers reliever Carlos Monasterios got the call in his first-ever start but was denied the victory since he was taken out after just four innings. Los Angeles knocked off the Pirates, 5-1 so even though Monasterios didn't get credit for the win, the bettors who backed Los Angeles were still rewarded with the victory.
This past Thursday night, another Dodgers rookie, John Ely, came close to picking up his first career victory, but Jonathan Broxton blew the save allowing Milwaukee to tie with two runs in the top of the ninth.
The hometown team had one more shot to break the tie and Andre Ethier came through with a walk-off grand slam home run, good for a 7-3 Dodgers win. Ely did not get credit for the "W" but once again, those who wagered on the Dodgers did.
The only starter of the six that failed to bring home the bacon was the Rockies' Esmil Rogers, who lost 6-1 as an underdog to Matt Cain and San Francisco.
Betting on the unknown might be a scary proposition, but it's been well worth it so far in 2010.
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in the Europa League for next season.
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Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lipscomb University forward Adnan Hodzic has
withdrawn from the 2010 NBA Draft and will return to the school for his senior
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AL Central: Tough week for Tigers and their fans >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the Detroit Tigers, Thursday's off day could not have
come at a better time.
For starters, the team had just wrapped up a stretch of 20 straight games --
through five cities -- with no rest. That journey came to a halt
NL West: Andre's been a giant for Dodgers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Chicago Bulls needed a shot in the clutch the
entire universe knew who was getting the ball.
Baseball is a bit different and fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers have been
getting their own Michael Jordan-l
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weeks with ankle ligament damage.
City boss Roberto Mancini has revealed the in
Mancini: Tevez will stay at City >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini
has revealed that leading striker Carlos Tevez is more than happy to stay at
the club, despite failing to land Champions League football next term.
The Argenti
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.
NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.
Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.
Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.
Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.
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NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
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Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
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Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6
For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com
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