Astros go for series win at Petco
Baseball Betting Lines
07/02/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros shoot for a series win this afternoon over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, where the two ballclubs will wrap up a four-game set.
Houston has won five of its last seven games, including two of the first three matchups with the Padres. In Wednesday's 7-1 victory, Carlos Lee, Geoff Blum and Kaz Matsui all drove in runs to pull the Astros within four games of the top spot in the National League Central division. Matsui ended with two hits and Darin Erstad scored a pair of runs for Houston, which has won seven of the last eight encounters with San Diego.
Houston also swept a three-game series from San Diego from May 8-10 of this season. Astros starter Brian Moehler pitched six innings of one-run ball and scattered four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts to pick up the win.
"It was more of a stress game, but they were down 6-1 so I didn't think I had to be perfect with everything," said Moehler. "I just tried to limit the amount of damage. We made some pitches when we had to and we made some plays when we needed to."
The Astros will hand the ball to Wandy Rodriguez on Thursday and he is 6-6 with a 3.35 ERA in 16 starts this season. Rodriguez is 1-0 in his last two stints since going 0-4 in five previous trips to the hill. He is coming off a no-decision against Detroit on June 26, when he yielded four runs and seven hits in six innings of a 5-4 triumph.
Houston has now won three of his last four starts. Rodriguez, who is 3-4 in eight road outings this season, defeated San Diego earlier this year on May 8 with eight shutout innings of five-hit ball. The lefty also struck out seven batters and issued no walks, improving to 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last three starts in this series.
In five career games, four of which have been starts, against San Diego, Rodriguez is 2-2 with a 5.47 earned run average.
San Diego lost for the 12th time in 18 tries last night and didn't get much help from starting pitcher Walter Silva. Silva yielded six runs, three of which were earned, and five hits in four innings of work to absorb the loss.
Eliezer Alfonzo homered and Tony Gwynn added a pair of hits for the Friars, who were set back by a costly throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. Headley fired an errant throw on a roller hit by Moehler and the bases were cleared for a 6-1 Houston lead.
"It comes down to one play," said Headley. "If I make that play at third then we have a chance. It's hard to battle back."
Padres All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was in the lineup yesterday after straining his right knee in Tuesday's win. He appeared in his 284th consecutive game and now sits 21 shy of Steve Garvey's franchise mark. He finished 0-for-3 with his major league-leading 64th walk Wednesday.
San Diego starter Kevin Correia has been the ace of the staff lately and will try to run his personal win streak to three straight starts tonight in the finale of this four-game series versus the Astros.
Correia has taken over as the top arm in the rotation with Jake Peavy and Chris Young sidelined because of injury, and has won two straight and four of his last five trips to the mound. Correia previously pitched on June 27 at Texas and held the Rangers to three runs in seven innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 7-3 victory.
The right-hander, who is 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA in 15 starts, also sports a 3-2 mark in nine home games this season. Correia will face Houston for the second time this season after not factoring in the outcome of a 5-4 loss on May 9 at Minute Maid Park. He allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, and is 0-0 with a 3.06 ERA in six career games (2 starts) versus the Astros.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.