D-Backs down Padres in NL West battle

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2007 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doug Davis tossed seven strong innings and both Eric Byrnes and Tony Clark homered, as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Diego Padres, 9-1, at Chase Field.

Davis (13-11) allowed just one run on six hits, striking out five and walking five, for Arizona, which moved back into a tie with the Padres atop the NL West. The left-hander has now won three straight starts and is 6-1 in his last seven trip to the hill.

Orlando Hudson ended with three of the nine hits for the Diamondbacks, who have split the first two games of this three-game set.

Mike Cameron drove in the lone run for the Padres, who lost for just the fourth time in 14 outings.

Feeling the need to win this series and even the season series at nine each, the Padres will send ace Jake Peavy to the hill in the finale of this series on just three days rest. Peavy will counter Arizona's Livan Hernandez.

Clark started the scoring with his two-run homer in the first. Byrnes added his three-run shot in the third. Both players ended 1-for-4.

All five runs came off San Diego starter Chris Young (9-6), who suffered his third loss in six starts. The right-hander allowed four hits, struck out six and walked two, remaining winless since July 19. This was his first start since August 26, as he was skipped last time through the order because of lower back tightness.

San Diego got a run back in the fifth when Cameron's sacrifice fly scored Geoff Blum, but Arizona regained the five-run cushion in the sixth when Justin Upton's ground out scored Chris Young.

Jeff Cirillo doubled home a run and Padres reliever Clay Hensley balked home a run in the ninth to round out the scoring.

Game Notes

Padres outfielder Milton Bradley was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes. He ended 0-for-2...Davis set a new single-season career best for wins with 13. His previous best of 12 was set in 2004 with Milwaukee...Arizona's Stephen Drew ended 1-for-4 to extend his hit streak to seven games.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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