3DW Line Moves – Crucial Betting Info

For the most part, online sports bettors are in agreement with money line numbers oddsmakers placed on the 15 games on the baseball board. However, there is greater division in thought about how the Totals should play out and I’ll examine those three contests along with money line adjustments.

Atlanta at Washington 7:05 EDT

After registering 6.4 runs in the past five games, Atlanta was all geared to see Stephen Strasburg of Washington. With S-squared a late scratch, Braves’ hitters must have been disappointed and tallied only five hits in 3-0 shutout last night. This evening it is a pair of veteran pitchers on the hill with Tim Hudson (10-5, 2.47 ERA) squaring off against Livan Hernandez (7-6, 3.12). The total opened at 8 and has since fallen to 7.5, with solid provocation. Hudson is 9-1 with a 1.51 ERA in 15 career starts against the Nationals and Hernandez is 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA in his last four matchups with Braves. With Atlanta 13-4 UNDER vs. NL teams scoring 4.3 or less runs a game and the Nats 10-1 UNDER after a contest with a combined score of four runs or less this season, the direction of the money appears accurate. Review SBGGlobal.com for all your baseball options.

Arizona at Philadelphia 7:05 EDT

The Phillies offense is crackling like expected, impressing those betting on sports with 6 runs per game during six-game winning streak. Roy Halladay (11-8, 2.28) will attempt to do his part in limiting the Arizona offense and the right-hander has permitted one or less runs in four of his last six starts. The Philadelphia hitters will look to dial in on the tosses of Edwin Jackson (6-9, 5.01), who has 6.85 ERA since throwing no-hitter on June 25. The total has headed downward for this NL conflict, starting at 8 and now at 7.5. Halladay could be expected to limit the D-Backs offensive output and is 19-8 UNDER vs. teams whose hitters strike out seven or more times a game over the last two seasons. (Team's Record) However, Jackson is very hittable and the Snakes bullpen ERA has 7.81 on the road and the club is 13-5 OVER after four or more consecutive losses this year. Not certain if the total is going the right way.

St. Louis at N.Y. Mets 7:10 EDT

In theory, the Mets were a sound underdog play on Tuesday, playing well at home against a Cardinals club that has failed in the road greys. New York won 8-2, raising home record to 31-16 (+12.8 units) and St. Louis fell to 21-29 (-6.6) as visitors. A matchup of left-handers has left sports bettors feeling more comfortable with the Metropolitans chances in Game 2 of the series. New York was a -119 ML choice at daybreak and has since jumped to -130 or higher. The Mets are 8-0 in home contests after batting .240 or worse over a 15-game span this campaign. While Jaime Garcia (9-4, 2.21) is having a brilliant rookie season, with the second lowest ERA among starting pitchers in baseball, Johan Santana (8-5, 2.79) is 50-16 after walking one or fewer hitters in each of his last two outings during his career. (Team's Record)

Baltimore at Toronto 7:05 EDT

Not sure what to make of this total sinking southward. This AL affair opened at 9.5 and has since gone to 9, which sort of made sense when Shawn Marcum was the scheduled starting pitcher for Toronto. The Blue Jays made a change to Brad Mills (7-4, 4.13 ERA in 16 starts for Triple-A Las Vegas), giving him his third Major League start and first of 2010. If you forget about the pitching switch, the Blue Jays are still 11-2 OVER at the Rogers Center vs. AL clubs scoring 4.7 or less runs game in the second half of the season since last year. Baltimore was again hammered 8-2 by Toronto and is 25-14 UNDER after scoring two runs or less and even with Jeremy Guthrie (4-10, 4.46) pitching better lately, the Orioles are 2-8 on the road with the lefty starter, who sports a 5.01 ERA in road uniform. Guthrie however, is 20-8 UNDER when the total is 9 to 9.5 since last year with average score 7.4 total runs.

L.A. Dodgers at San Diego 10:05 EDT

It’s unusual to say the least a team would win five of six while scoring a grand total of 11 runs, yet that is precisely what the Dodgers have done in pulling to within six games in the loss column of San Diego. Linemakers had the team from L.A. as +114 underdogs, but sports betting online fans have preferred the pedigree of the Dodgers and they now sit +100 pooches. Los Angeles is a stellar 26-8 after batting .240 or worse over a 10-game span and thought provoking 15-1 after five straight times where they had less than 10 hits. With Hiroki Kuroda (8-8, 3.48) in better form than Clayton Richard (7.13 ERA in four July starts), the visitor might well be the right play.

3DW Bonus Info

Money Line Nugget
Seattle is 4-23 against the money line after allowing 10 runs or more since 2008.

Totals Nugget
Florida is 14-2 UNDER as a road underdog of +100 to +150 this season, with average total score of 6.9 RPG.

Run Line Nugget
Arizona is 0-11 against the run line in road games vs. good fielding teams, averaging 0.6 or fewer errors a game in 2010, losing by alarming 5.3 RPG.

Total Domination Fuels Two MLB Matchups

Baltimore and Pittsburgh have been two of the weakest franchises in baseball for a number of years. The Orioles haven’t had a winning season since their division title in 1997 and Pittsburgh is on historic sports streak, as their last winning campaign came in 1992. When you are this bad, everyone has a shot to beat you, however certain teams can really put the hurt on you and both clubs face a nemesis that just doesn’t let up this evening.

Thank you sir may I have another

It was just four years ago, despite being a horribly run franchise, Baltimore (29-63, -20.8 units) always had the cushion of Tampa Bay (56-36, +2.8) below them to at least have a little dignity, keeping them out of last place in the AL East. No more, as the Rays figured out how to put together a farm system and Baltimore, they are still trying to work that point out.

The O’s came into the season believing they had turned a corner, with the development of a few of their younger players, despite the fact they were on a streak of the next season being worst than the prior since 2004.

This quickly turned into a futile campaign with abysmal 2-16 start. Enter Tampa Bay. The Rays are 6-1 vs. the Orioles this year, including 4-0 at Camden Yards, where the teams will meet again. Over the past three seasons, Tampa Bay is 15-7 where crapcakes are plentiful and 31-13 overall.

Sports betting online outlets have Baltimore as +180 home underdogs, after their 8-1 shellacking last night and the Birds are 2-19 after scoring one run or less this season. They will send potential sacrificial lamb Jake Arrieta (3-2, 4.62 ERA) to the mound and Baltimore is 11-36 off three straight losses against division rivals the last three seasons.

Tampa Bay will start Matt Garza (10-5, 4.05) who is 8-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 10 career starts against the Orioles and is 2-0 this season, permitting two earned runs in 16 innings and striking out 14. For this 7:05 Eastern contest, the Rays are 14-4 on the division road this season.

Oh that’s going to leave a mark

Prosperity and abundance are two words seldom associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates (32-60, -12.3). After scoring 21 runs on 36 hits in last two contests in taking the series against Houston, the Bucs must have been arm and leg weary and could only muster a lone run and six base-knocks against renowned Chris Capuano and other bullpen pitchers from Milwaukee (43-51, -7.8) in 3-1 defeat (Capuano’s first win in three years).

Pittsburgh losing to the Brewers is as predictable Lindsey Lohan and Mel Gibson being in the news, after awhile you hardly even notice.

The Pirates have fallen to the Brew Crew in nine of 12 matchups this year (5 of 6 at PNC Park) and they are 8-32 vs. Milwaukee since 2008. The latest slump has Pittsburgh losing nine of 11 and they are 8-27 with double revenge against opponent this season.

Betting on sports participants will note the Bucs are +117 underdogs with their best young pitcher Brad Lincoln (1-3, 5.14) taking the ball. Lincoln has mid-90’s heat, a curveball with a hard break and improving changeup. His problems have come leaving the ball up against big league hitters and has been tagged for four homers in last two starts. Pittsburgh is 50-101 after batting .250 or worse over a 20-game span.

Milwaukee counters with Dave Bush (4-7, 4.07), who has pitched his best baseball of the season of late, with 2.45 ERA in his last trio of starts. Half of Bush’s wins in 2010 have been at the expense of Pittsburgh and the Brewers are on 7-1 streak as a road favorite in the -110 to -150 range. The Crew is 7-0 against Pitt. when Bush is the starting pitcher since July 5, 2008.

MLB Series Wagering- Rays at Yankees

The two best teams in baseball square off in the Bronx to begin their second half of the season. Tampa Bay (54-34, +2.7 units) trails New York (56-32, +7.4) by two games and would like to close the gap even further with a series triumph. The Rays have played with the off-kilter intensity of Mel Gibson, not in the present form, but like his character in “Mad Max –Road Warrior”. Tampa Bay has far and away the best road record in baseball at 28-14 (+12) and they are flat out fantastic in the division with 12-2 mark, which includes a pair of wins May 19-20 at Yankees Stadium.

For New York fans and many of the players, this series starts with a melancholy feel, as legendary public address announcer Bob Sheppard and “The Boss” George Steinbrenner, both passed away this past week. “I think he’s a father figure to everyone that was in our organization in the past or present, because he really took care of his players,” Jeter said. “You know, whether it was a player that’s on the team now or someone that played for a week 30 years ago.

The Yankees will wear patches on their uniforms for the remainder of the season to honor Steinbrenner and Sheppard.

New York returns home like they are just out of the microwave, winners of eight of last nine. Among the hottest Yankees is pitcher C.C. Sabathia (12-3, 3.09 ERA), whose been delivering as consistently as UPS. Sabathia is 8-0 since June began with miniscule 1.81 ERA. In fact, in his last 38 2/3 innings, the big lefthander has permitted four earned runs. The Bronx Bombers are -175 money line favorites at online sports betting outlets and no wonder with the big man 15-0 vs. teams averaging 2.75 or less extra base hits per game in the second half of the season over the last three seasons. (Team's Record)

After scuffling for awhile, the Rays are back online, also winners of eight of last nine outings. Tampa Bay deserves notice for 12-1 record vs. an AL starting pitcher with ERA of 3.20 or better this season, nonetheless, James Shields (7-9, 4.87) is curious choice as starting pitcher for series opener. Shields is 1-8 with a 7.00 ERA in his last nine outings and 2-7 with 5.54 ERA in 11 career starts against the Yankees.

“I’m happy that we’re playing them right out of the gates,” Shields told MLB.com. “We’re right behind them right now and it’s a good chance for us to pick up a couple of games on them.” With those words in mind, you can’t help of thinking of Ace Ventura saying “All righty than”.

Game 1 Edge: New York

The team in pinstripes has the third best home record in baseball starting this series at 28-13. For those seeking sports betting tips, New York is playing 40 of final 74 games at home, which will give them definite edge along with inflated money and run lines. A.J. Burnett (7-7, 4.75) will again pitch on this FOX Saturday afternoon affair. Two weeks ago Saturday, he was dreadful at Los Angeles, lasting just three innings and permitting six runs. That concluded a stretch of five June starts with an ERA over 11 and the Yankees coaches deducted Burnett needed to start using his change-up more and this has brought immediate results, allowing two total runs in last two starts covering 13 2/3 innings. The Yanks are 43-18 in Game 2’s, but have won just one of Burnett’s previous six starts.

Jeff Niemann (7-2, 2.77) has arguably been manager Joe Maddon’s most dependable starter all season, particularly on the road. Niemann is 4-0 (the Rays are 8-0 in 2010 when he starts) in visiting uniform and Tampa Bay is inconceivable 17-2 in the second game of a series when the 6’9 right-handed toes the rubber. The Rays best bet to win is grab the lead before the eighth inning since New York is 4-26 when trailing after seven frames and 48-4 when leading.
Game 2 Edge: Tampa Bay

The series finale matches a pair of lefties, one representing the past and present, with the other already an All-Star with unlimited future. Andy Pettitte (11-2, 2.70) is 38 years old and is getting better with age, being an All-Star again this season. Pettitte is extremely knowledgeable hurler, quickly figuring out what pitches are working from his repertoire and keeping hitters off-balance. Pettitte and teammates are 12-3 as favorites this year and 22-10 in day games. Skipper Maddon would be wise to load lineup with right-hand sticks as opposing LH hitters are batting .167 vs. Pettitte’s tosses.

The Rays counter with All-Star starter David Price (12-4. 2.42) who is fulfilling the promise as Tampa Bay’s top pick of the 2007 June draft. The 24-year old has all the pitches, including a tight slider and improving change-up. He and the Rays are 6-0 in the division and 6-1 in the day time.

Game 3 Edge: New York

This should be a highly competitive series given how each team has played. Tampa Bay has 3-2 lead this season and somewhat surprisingly, the last six meetings have gone Over the total for those betting on sports. Both clubs are exceptional in their roles of home and away, yet the visiting team has taken five of past six. Despite this, it’s very difficult to bet against the Yankees at home, thus will be betting them for this weekend.

Sportsbook series odds: Tampa Bay +170, New York -220

3Daily Winners Pick: New York