Delgado, Mets outlast Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2007 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Delgado hit one of three New York home runs, and the Mets overcame 19 Los Angeles hits to beat the Dodgers, 13-9, in the opener of a four-game series.

Delgado and Ramon Castro hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning, and Carlos Beltran also went deep, but Tom Glavine failed to get career win No. 299.

Both starting pitchers exited early, as the teams combined for 15 runs over the first three innings. The Mets scored six times in the first inning and made that lead stand up.

Glavine was battered for 10 hits and six runs over two-plus frames before being lifted. Aaron Sele (3-0) threw three innings to get the victory.

"Did we win that game?" Mets manager Willie Randolph asked. "It's not fun to manage a game like this. Tom struggled. We were hoping to get him his 299th. Aaron pitched well. We knew they'd come back, so we hung in there and kept fighting."

Ruben Gotay had three hits with an RBI and scored twice for the NL East- leading Mets, who won for the fourth time in six games. The Mets totaled 16 hits and benefited from the Dodgers leaving 13 men on base.

Derek Lowe (8-9) was pounded for 10 hits and nine runs -- eight earned-- with three walks over three innings to remain winless in his last five outings.

"We dug ourselves a hole early," Lowe said. "I made countless mistakes with my pitches and they hit my mistakes."

Matt Kemp belted a two-run homer and Jeff Kent added a solo shot for Los Angeles, which had won six of seven, but are now one percentage point behind the Padres for the lead in the NL West.

Beltran homered to left field off Mark Hendrickson leading off the eighth, boosting the lead to 13-8.

James Loney singled in a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Dodgers left runners at the corners when Kemp grounded out. The Dodgers had two runners on again in the ninth, but couldn't score.

The Mets sent 11 men to the plate in the opening inning. David Wright doubled in two runs, Castro stroked an RBI single, as did Shawn Green and Gotay. Another run scored on an error by Kemp in center field.

Luis Gonzalez singled in two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Kent was thrown out trying to go to third base on the hit, and Nomar Garciaparra grounded out to end the inning.

Kemp homered in the second inning, but the Mets expanded their lead to 9-4 in the third on an RBI groundout by Jose Reyes and a two-run single by Marlon Anderson.

Kent led off the bottom of the inning with a homer, and pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning, but Garciaparra was thrown out trying to advance to third to cap the frame.

Reyes singled in a run in the fifth, but the Dodgers countered with pinch- hitter Wilson Betemit's RBI hit, leaving the score at 10-7 going into the sixth.

Delgado homered to center off Rudy Seanez with one out in the sixth, and Castro followed with a blast to left.

Rafael Furcal doubled in Kemp in the seventh for a 12-8 margin.

Game Notes

The Dodgers swept the Mets in a three-game set in LA from June 11-13...Juan Pierre extended his hitting streak to 12 games for the Dodgers...The Mets committed three errors.

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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.