Angels visit A's in clash of slumping division foes

Baseball Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling AL West inhabitants get together this evening in Oakland, as the Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim kick off a three-game series from the Coliseum.

The Angels have dropped four straight and the A's are currently mired in a three-game losing streak. Los Angeles was just swept in all four games by the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field and is coming off Thursday's 1-0 setback in the series finale.

Ervin Santana was outdueled by White Sox starter John Danks, who went the distance and allowed two hits with seven strikeouts for the win. Santana allowed Paul Konerko's sacrifice fly in the first inning and scattered three hits to fall to 8-7 this season. He struck out four and walked three batters in the hard-luck loss.

Reggie Willits and Howie Kendrick had the only hits for the Angels, who have lost six of their last seven games and are 5 1/2 games behind Texas in the division standings. Angels All-Star Torii Hunter went 0-for-3 at the plate and expressed his displeasure after the game.

"We have to play better -- and we will," Hunter said on the team's website "There's too much talent in here to be playing like this. Our pitching has been awesome. We're just not playing the way we're capable of playing, the way we're supposed to play."

Angels starter Joel Pineiro is pitching the way he's supposed to and will take his six-start winning streak to the mound Friday. Pineiro is 6-0 with a 2.08 earned run average during his current run and threw seven shutout innings in an 11-0 beating of Kansas City on Sunday. Pineiro allowed six hits, struck out three and issued four walks.

The right-hander, who is 9-6 in 17 total starts, blanked the Athletics on May 16 in a 4-0 win. He struck out five and walked one to improve to 9-8 in 23 career matchups, 18 of which have been starts, with the Athletics.

Oakland just lost all three contests with the visiting New York Yankees and suffered a 6-3 setback Wednesday in the series finale from the Coliseum. Gio Gonzalez was roughed up in the start and was reached for five runs on eight hits and five walks in four innings of work.

"Just trying to do too much, instead of just going out there and trusting your stuff, trusting your defense and throwing strikes," Gonzalez said. "I should have attacked the zone, right from the get-go. Should have thrown first-pitch strikes."

Coco Crisp and Jack Cust had an RBI apiece for the Athletics, who have dropped six of seven games overall and sit 9 1/2 games off the lead in the AL West.

Vin Mazzaro will try for better luck when he takes the hill for the A's tonight. Mazzaro has won two straight starts and is 4-2 with a 3.81 ERA in 10 games (seven starts) this season. He last took the hill on a July 4 win at Cleveland, where he tossed 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball and fanned seven.

The right-hander was a recipient of plenty of run support against the Angels in a 10-1 win on June 8 at the Coliseum. Mazzaro lasted five innings and permitted one run to push his career mark to 1-1 in three starts in this series.

The Angels have won six of 10 meetings with Oakland this season and are 10-4 in the 14 most recent contests between the AL West foes.

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Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Super Bowl XLIII, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.

The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.

The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.

Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.

MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:

Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)

Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)

Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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