Mariners hold off A's
Baseball Betting Lines
09/08/2010 - Oakland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ichiro Suzuki registered two more hits in his quest for his 10th consecutive 200-hit season and drove in a run, as Seattle held off Oakland, 7-5, hampering the Athletics in their attempt to gain ground in the AL West.
Adam Moore homered and knocked in two runs for the Mariners, who also received two RBI from Casey Kotchman. Seattle snapped a six-game skid in Oakland.
Doug Fister (5-11) pitched five innings and broke a three-start losing streak. He allowed five hits, two runs, walked four and fanned the same number of batters.
Suzuki currently has 181 hits. With 19 more hits he would break the American League record for 200-hit seasons in a career (currently tied with Ty Cobb) and tie the major league record held by Pete Rose.
Dallas Braden (9-11) was pounded for nine hits and six runs over five frames for the A's, who had won three of their last four contests. They had a chance to gain ground on Texas in the AL West after the Rangers lost in Toronto earlier Tuesday. The A's, though, remained seven games out of first place.
Facing a five-run deficit, the A's brought the potential winning run in the plate in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp singled in a pair of runs with two outs in the ninth off Brandon League. Jeremy Hermida then singled to right field. League threw a wild pitch while walking Steve Tolleson, allowing Crisp to come home. David Aardsma was summoned from the bullpen and retired Cliff Pennington on a lazy fly ball to left field. Aardsma earned his 29th save.
The Mariners struck for five runs in the second inning. Franklin Gutierrez walked and Jose Lopez singled to set up Kotchman's RBI base hit to left. Lopez went to third on Pennington's throwing error, and Moore followed with a sacrifice fly.
Then came five straight base hits. After Matt Tuiasosopo singled, Jose Wilson and Suzuki each drove in a run with hits. Chone Figgins reached base and Russell Branyan completed the uprising with an RBI base hit to right field.
Moore homered to left-center with one gone in the third for a 6-0 lead.
Kurt Suzuki singled in a pair in the Oakland fifth, but the A's wasted a bases-loaded chance in the sixth when Suzuki grounded out.
Kotchman's sacrifice fly plated Michael Saunders in the seventh.
Game Notes
Fister moved to 4-1 lifetime against the A's...Oakland first baseman Daric Barton has reached base via hit or walk in 22 of his last 23 games...The A's lead the season series 8-6...Oakland left 13 men on base.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.