Tigers go for a road win against Price

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been over a month since the Detroit Tigers last won a game on the road. A matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays and David Price doesn't seem to bode well for the struggling club's chances of ending that drought.

Price will attempt to become the American League's first 14-game winner when he takes the mound this afternoon for the Rays, who'll be aiming for a series sweep of the fading Tigers when these teams square off again at Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay has taken the first three bouts of this set and dealt Detroit a ninth consecutive road defeat with Wednesday's 7-4 decision. The losing streak is the Tigers' longest in away games since the club dropped 10 in a row from September 16-October 2, 2005.

The Rays, on the other hand, have now won five straight contests and kept pace with the New York Yankees in the race for first place in the AL East as well as the best overall record in baseball. Tampa improved to 62-38 on the year, two games back of the Yankees for the top spot.

Tampa Bay used a 14-hit attack to prevail last night, with Evan Longoria breaking out of an 0-for-18 skid with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate that included a two-run homer. Carlos Pena added an RBI single and ended 2-for-3 on the evening.

The Rays scored five times over the first four innings to help Jeff Niemann (9-3) record his ninth win of the season. The towering right-hander labored through six innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, two of which were homers.

"It's nice to get a win on a night when we probably didn't deserve one," Niemann said. "The defense and offense really helped me out [Wednesday]."

Eddie Bonine (4-1), making his first start of 2010, took the loss for Detroit after being tagged for five runs and eight hits before being removed after 3 1/3 innings.

Johnny Damon went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in the Tigers' latest loss, while Miguel Cabrera came through with a solo shot off Niemann in the top of the sixth.

Detroit has now lost 12 of its last 15 tests and has fallen five games behind front-running Chicago in the AL Central standings. A lack of offense has been one reason for the Tigers' woes, as the team has averaged a mere 2.9 runs per game over that poor stretch.

The Tigers did make a move towards trying to bolster their injury-plagued lineup on Wednesday, acquiring infielder Jhonny Peralta from Cleveland in exchange for minor-league pitcher Giovanni Soto. The 28-year-old is expected to serve as Detroit's third baseman with Brandon Inge likely sidelined for at least another month with a fractured finger.

Tampa Bay will probably sit out two regulars this afternoon, with center fielder B.J. Upton slated to miss a second straight game with a sprained ankle and right fielder Ben Zobrist bothered by a sore back that forced him to leave Wednesday's win after just three innings.

The Rays will have a healthy Price, who enters today's tilt with a glossy 13-5 record and 2.90 earned run average in 19 starts and is presently tied with the New York Yankees' CC Sabathia and Minnesota's Carl Pavano for the AL lead in wins. The 2010 All-Star Game starter has been even more impressive at home, where he boasts a 6-1 mark along with a splendid 2.04 ERA and has held the opposition to a .200 average this season.

The 2007 No. 1 overall pick has won his last three starts at Tropicana Field, but his most recent victory came on the road this past Saturday. Facing the Cleveland Indians, Price allowed three runs and just three hits over seven innings to help the Rays post a 6-3 decision.

Price also performed well in his only previous start against the Tigers, firing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to pick up a win at Comerica Park on August 29 of last season.

Detroit will send out another member of that 2007 first-round class in the finale, with youngster Rick Porcello getting the call for the visitors. The Tigers sophomore hasn't achieved nearly the degree of success Price has this season, however, nor has he been able to build off a very promising rookie campaign of 2009.

A 14-game winner as a 20-year-old last season, Porcello has slipped to a 4-8 record and produced a subpar 5.55 ERA in 15 starts thus far in 2010. Those struggles earned the right-hander a brief banishment to the minors in mid- June, but he's pitched better since returning after the All-Star break.

Porcello yielded just one run and walked none over eight strong innings during a no-decision at Cleveland on July 17, then surrendered three runs in six frames in a home defeat to Toronto on Saturday. It was the fourth straight losing decision for the New Jersey native, who hasn't won in the majors since May 23.

Porcello was sharp in his lone career start versus Tampa Bay, permitting just one run through 5 2/3 innings in a win at Comerica Park last August.

Prior to taking the first three games of this series, the Rays had lost in eight of their last 11 meetings with Detroit. The Tigers swept a three-game set in their lone trip to Tropicana Field last season.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.