Devil Rays, Yanks set to play two in the Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Already 18 1/2 games out of contention in the American League East and just 10-17 versus division foes, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays try to follow up their impressive effort on Friday as they play two versus the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Saturday.

The stars aligned for the Devil Rays on Friday night as they thrashed New York in a 14-4 decision in the opener of a four-game set. Dioner Navarro punched his first career grand slam and B.J. Upton posted his first career multi-homer game in the lopsided decision.

Even more impressive was the fact that Tampa Bay starting pitcher Edwin Jackson picked the Yankees to record his first road win in nearly four seasons. Jackson shut out the Yankees over six innings, giving up only four hits and walking four, while striking out four for the visitors. The victory was just the second of the season overall for Jackson, who last won on the road in September of 2003.

While Jackson was showing signs of life for the visitors, Mike Mussina was continuing to struggle as he suffered his seventh loss, against just four wins this season. Mussina was touched for six runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. The meeting was supposed to work in favor of Mussina, who entered the game a perfect 7-0 versus the Rays in Yankee Stadium, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Andy Phillips each had a pair of hits for New York, while Bobby Abreu offset those efforts with three strikeouts in five at- bats. Johnny Damon snapped the longest hitless drought of his career (0- for-20) with a single, while Hideki Matsui had his hitting streak snapped at 14 games.

Heading out to the hill for the Devil Rays in the first game of today's doubleheader will be youngster Jason Hammel, who began his career with six straight losses before earning his first-ever victory at the major league level earlier this season versus Arizona.

Unfortunately, that win in relief is still the lone victory in his career at this point as he gets ready to start his first game of 2007. Last weekend he faced the Yankees for the second time in three days, retiring just a single batter before heading to the dugout.

The Treasure Valley Community College product has thrown a total of just 61 2/3 innings in his major league career, resulting in a lofty 7.30 ERA.

The second game of the day will see left-hander J.P. Howell take the hill for the Rays, getting the call up from Triple-A Durham. Howell, now in his third year of major league experience, last threw at this level on July 5 versus Boston at Fenway Park, where he was battered for six runs in a mere 2/3 innings of action.

Howell as a career mark of 1-0 versus the Yankees but is still just 5-11 overall.

Left-hander Kei Igawa stands to see action today for the Yankees, yet another youngster who is in his first year of major league play. Igawa, who turned 28 just over a week ago, has not won a game since the end of April. Since then he has appeared in five contests, the most recent being a 6-4 victory over Toronto on Monday. In that game the lefty surrendered three runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs, and walked four while striking out seven in five innings of work.

In his only other appearance against Tampa Bay this season, Igawa was touched for seven runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings back in April.

Later in the day, rookie hurler Matt DeSalvo gets his first-ever look at the Devil Rays in the second game trying to improve upon his 1-3 record.

DeSalvo, a 26-year old from the Keystone State, last pitched in the majors back on May 28 versus Toronto on the road, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.

Over the last seven games Alex Rodriguez, who leads the AL in both home runs (32) and RBI (92), has knocked in five and scored five times, but is hitting a mere .185 during that span for the Yankees. Abreu is tied for the team-lead with seven knocked in over the last week, despite hitting a paltry .167 for the club, currently eight games behind Boston for first place in the division.

Over the last six games Upton has 11 hits and eight runs scored for Tampa Bay, both team highs, while Carlos Pena has knocked in 11 on just eight hits, six of which have gone for extra bases.

In the three previous seasons the Yankees have gone 20-8 against Tampa Bay at home, posting a perfect 10-0 mark in 2004, but this season NY has already dropped two of three meetings to the Devil Rays in the Bronx and are just 4-5 versus today's visitors overall.

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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.