Richard, Padres resume series vs. D'Backs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard was bailed out by his offense the last time he took the mound. The San Diego Padres hope that Richard won't need the help when he gets the nod tonight in the second installment of a three-game series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park.

Richard was on the hill in Sunday's 9-7 victory and luckily did not post a decision after getting rocked for six runs on six hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. He remained at 6-4 in 18 starts and saw his earned run average go from 3.00 to 3.33.

The left-hander, who is 2-0 in his last four starts with back-to-back no- decisions, has never faced Arizona in his career. Richard hopes his first appearance in this series will push his home record over the .500 mark. He is 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 10 starts on the Petco Park mound.

San Diego will try to make sure it won't have a drought in run scoring after posting a 12-1 beating of the D'Backs last night, as Chase Headley finished 3- for-4 with a home run and runs scored to lead the way. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer for the National League West-leading Padres, who are three games ahead Colorado and 3 1/2 games in front of both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the division standings.

Jon Garland gave up just one run in six innings to take the win. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five.

"I was able to throw all the pitches for strikes," Garland said on the team's site. "That first inning, it just seemed like every guy was on every pitch and putting it in play [and] the pitch count was getting up there. But after that, I started getting ahead of guys, making the pitches I wanted to make and kept them off balance."

The Padres have won two straight and six of their last 10 games.

Arizona, however, has lost eight of its last nine games and looked awful in last night's beat down. Kelly Johnson had two of the D'Backs' four hits and Justin Upton doubled in the only run in defeat.

Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren continued to struggle and fell to 7-8 this season after yielding six runs and eight hits in five innings. Blaine Boyer gave up two runs and Jordan Norberto was reached for three in relief.

"Not a good way to start the second half," Haren said on Arizona's official website. "Hopefully we can bounce back."

Taking the hill for the D'Backs tonight will be Rodrigo Lopez, who is 3-1 with a 3.28 ERA in his last four starts. Lopez last pitched in a 10-4 rout of the Florida Marlins on July 8 and allowed four runs -- three earned -- on five hits through seven innings of work.

Lopez, who improved to 5-7 in 18 starts and lowered his ERA to 4.40, will face the Padres for the second time in his career. The right-hander was a member of the Baltimore Orioles the first and only time he pitched against San Diego back on June 12, 2002 in a 2-0 loss. Lopez went the distance that day but was dealt the loss for allowing both runs and five hits with five K's.

San Diego has won five of seven meetings with Arizona this season and seven of the previous 11 contests between the NL West foes.

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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.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

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.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

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.

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