Diaz helps Braves slip past slumping Phils

Baseball Betting Lines

07/02/2009 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Diaz belted a go-ahead RBI double in a three-run eighth, as the Atlanta Braves recorded their first home sweep of the Phillies since 2005 with a 5-2 victory at Turner Field.

Garret Anderson added a two-run homer in that fateful inning, as the Braves swept Philadelphia for the first time at home since April 22-24, 2005. It was the first sweep of the reigning World Series champs since April 2-5, 2007.

Diaz finished the game 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, while Casey Kotchman went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer, as the Braves have now won a season-high four straight games. Mike Gonzalez (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth to earn the win, and Rafael Soriano earned his seventh save of the season.

Javier Vazquez got a no-decision after yielding two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

Jimmy Rollins snapped a career-worst 0-for-28 skid with a 2-for-4 night, but it was of no use, as the Phillies fell into a virtual tie with the Marlins for first place atop the NL East standings after losing three straight and 14 of 18 overall.

J.A. Happ pitched well in the start, allowing only two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks, with five strikeouts. in seven strong innings.

The Phillies inserted Ryan Madson (2-4) to keep the game tied in the home eighth, but the Braves forged ahead. Brian McCann led off with a single after an 0-2 count, and Yunel Escobar sacrificed pinch-runner Jair Jurrjens to second. Diaz followed with an RBI double to deep center field to give Atlanta a 3-2 lead.

After Diaz stole third, Anderson hit a towering home run to right field for a comfortable 5-2 edge. Soriano set the Phillies down in order to finish the win.

The Braves put runners on first and third with nobody out in the second for the game's first scoring chance. Happ, though, was up to the task, striking out Jeff Francoeur and Vazquez amidst a Kotchman walk to load the bases. A fielder's choice groundout by Gregor Blanco ended the frame.

Vazquez held the Phillies off the board for the first four innings, and Atlanta finally scored in the home half on Kotchman's two-run homer far beyond the wall in right field.

Happ's first career hit in the fifth helped Philadelphia put two runners on base with two outs, but Shane Victorino lined out sharply to shortstop Escobar to end the threat.

The Phillies finally got to Vazquez in the sixth, knocking him out of the game. Chase Utley led off with a single and moved to second two batters later, as Jayson Werth was hit by a pitch. Greg Dobbs followed with a double to deep center, although Utley barely scored after the center fielder Blanco acted as if he would catch the ball before it bounced over his head.

Vazquez was pulled in favor of Peter Moylan, who allowed an the tying RBI groundout by Pedro Feliz before getting out of the inning.

The Braves put runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh for Chipper Jones, who flied out weakly on a 3-1 pitch to help Happ escape from yet another jam.

Philadelphia nearly pushed across the go-ahead run in the eighth. Werth drew a one-out walk, and, with two outs, stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by the catcher McCann. A wild pitch sent Werth scrambling for home, but McCann got the ball as it bounced off the backstop and tossed it to Gonzalez, who was able to tag out Werth in time to end the inning.

Game Notes

After going 14-4 against Atlanta last season, the Phillies are 6-9 against them this year...Philadelphia outfielder Raul Ibanez will not join the team this weekend against the Mets after having his rehab start pushed back to Friday...It was Anderson's first career pinch-hit homer...Atlanta will begin a 10-game road trip on Friday against Washington.

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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.

MySportsbook.com week 1 NFL lines


Now that the 2008 NFL schedule is finally out, it is only matter-of-course for lines on “Week 1” to follow.  Of course MySportsbook.com is the first to churn out odds for the NFL’s inaugural week for the upcoming season.   Expect a lot of fireworks the first Thursday night of the season as the defending champion Indianapolis Colts face off against the surprise of the 2008 season, the New Orleans Saints.  These teams were ranked #1 and #3 in the NFL respectively a season ago so a high scoring affair could be in order.  As of now, the Colts will be giving 6 points to the Saints; keep in mind the Saints were one of the better road teams last season going 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS.  The first Monday night of the season will again provide a “double feature”. Coming off a disappointing season, the Cincinnati Bengals will look to get back to playoffs and improve their public image as they take on the AFC North favorite Baltimore Ravens.  The second game features a couple of teams that haven’t had too much success recently but each could make some noise if the NFC is as weak as it was last year as the San Francisco 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals. The most interesting game of the opening week will feature the NFC champion Bears as they hit the road to take on the NFL’s top team during last year’s regular season, the San Diego Chargers.

MySportsbook.com Week 1 odds:

Saints +6 @ Colts -6

Falcons @ Vikings (pick ‘em)

Panthers @ Rams (pick ‘em)

Broncos -3.5 @ Bills +3.5

Chiefs -1 @ Texans +1

Dolphins +3 @ Redskins -3

Patriots -5 @ Jets +5

Eagles -3.5 @ Packers +3.5

Steelers -4 @ Browns +4

Titans +6 @ Jaguars -6

Bears +6 @ Chargers -6

Lions +3 @ Raiders -3

Bucs +6.5 @ Seahawks -6.5

Giants +4 @ Cowboys -4

Ravens +3 @ Bengals -3

Cardinals +3 @ 49ers -3

 Super Bowl line (2008)

NFC +6.5 vs. AFC -6.5

MySportsbook is a large, publicly traded company with strong financial backing. You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.

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