Royals hoping to turn page from losing streak
Baseball Betting Lines
06/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There aren't enough adjectives to describe the Kansas City Royals' recent 12-game skid.
Fortunately for the Royals, they can now take solace in the fact that it's over. And with back-to-back wins to close out their homestand, it looks like the healing has already begun. That process began on Saturday when closer Joakim Soria recorded the final out to put an end to the agony.
"I waited for maybe five seconds before I took a deep breath," Manager Trey Hillman said of his reaction. "It was a big relief."
Prior to the losing streak, Kansas City appeared to be on the right track, sitting just a game below .500 and right in the thick of the American League Central standings. Then, the bottom dropped out. Now, the Royals again find themselves in their customary position, with one of the worst records in the majors.
However, the team is already showing signs of fixing some of the things that plagued them over the last two weeks. One of those things: getting the job done with two outs and runners in scoring position.
During the fifth inning of Saturday's 4-2 win over Cleveland, David DeJesus and Mark Grudzielanek drove in back-to-back runs with two outs to open up a 4-1 lead.
"I was pleased with what we did," Hillman said. "We had some big two-out hits."
Grudzielanek was at it again Sunday, belting a two-run homer in Kansas City's 6-1 win over Cleveland, while starter Brian Bannister, who entered the game with only one win since April 13, held the Indians to one run in 7 1/3 innings.
After an off-day Monday, the Royals will kick off a seven-game road trip beginning Tuesday in Chicago. KC will get pretty used to hotel life over the next few weeks, as it plays 13 of its next 16 away from home. At the same time, the Royals will try to avoid a ninth consecutive road loss Tuesday night.
During the Royals' 12-game slide, they lost consecutive four-game sets in Boston and Toronto, falling to 11-18 on the road this season.
However, the Royals enter this next road set on the heels of their first series victory in quite a while. Still, there is plenty of work left to be done.
"It's huge for us to get these wins and get some positive feelings before heading out on the road again," Bannister said on the team's Web site. "We're going to face two tough teams. The White Sox are first in our division. Then we're going to Yankee Stadium. Even if the Yankees aren't playing that well, it's still an intimidating place to play.
AVILES READY FOR THE BIG SHOW
When a team spends the better part of a month losing game after game, changes are indeed imminent. Billy Butler, one of the franchise's promising young talents, has been an abomination at the plate, hitting .263 with just one home run and 18 RBI.
On Thursday, Butler was sent back down to the minors to iron out the kinks in his swing.
His departure cleared the way for Kansas City to promote utility infielder Mike Aviles from Triple-A Omaha. Aviles, 27, started at shortstop in his debut Saturday, going 0-for-3 and striking out in his first at-bat by watching three straight strikes.
"I guess I just froze. I don't know," he said.
At Omaha, Aviles was hitting .338 with 10 homers and 42 RBI. He hit .419 with the Royals in Spring Training. A seventh-round pick in 2003, Aviles has started at every infield position except first base. Last year, he hit .296 with 17 homers and 77 RBIs for Omaha.
TOMKO OUT OF CHANCES
Through 10 starts, Brett Tomko was just 2-6 with a 6.11 ERA. Those numbers were good enough to earn a demotion to the minors. In his place steps Kyle Davies, who was called up to fill out the rotation. At Omaha, Davies was 6-2 with a 2.06 ERA.
He got right down to business on Saturday, ending the losing skid in his first start of the season Saturday night. He earned the win after five innings and one earned run allowed.
Davies was a trade deadline acquisition from Atlanta last year, posting a 3-7 record and a 6.66 ERA in 11 starts with Kansas City.
WHO'S HOT
Soria (1.16 ERA, 12-for-12 in saves) continues to get it done in the closer's role, even though save opportunities come around less often than lunar eclipses these days in Kansas City.
WHO'S NOT
The door may have finally closed on shortstop Tony Pena, who is hitting just .155 on the season.
A LOOK AHEAD
Zack Greinke (5-2, 2.88) looks to make it three in a row tomorrow night when the Royals take on Gavin Floyd (5-3, 3.22) and the White Sox. On Wednesday it will be Luke Hochevar (3-5, 4.98) versus John Danks (4-4, 2.86). And on Thursday, Gil Meche (3-7, 5.35), who has rebounded from a rough start to post a 3.71 ERA over his last seven starts, will take on the resurgent Jose Contreras (5-3, 2.89). Davies (1-0, 1.80) will take the hill in Friday's opener at Yankee Stadium.
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MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.
(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977. Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.
Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer. In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season.
MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season. Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite. After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.
Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions. They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown.
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Betting the NFL preseason
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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