10/06/2008 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeWayne Wise hit a two-run double in Chicago's three-run fourth, and the White Sox staved off elimination with a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of their American League Division Series.
Tampa Bay still leads the series 2-1, and can advance to its first-ever American League Championship Series with a win in Game 4, set for Monday afternoon in Chicago. Game 5, if necessary, will be back in St. Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday.
John Danks (1-0) gave up seven hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts and three walks, to pick up another big win for the White Sox. Danks was coming off pitching eight innings of shutout ball in the one- game playoff with the Twins on Tuesday, and he earned the win as Chicago edged Minnesota 1-0 for the AL Central title.
A.J. Pierzynski had two hits and an RBI for Chicago.
"At least we play tomorrow. That's the only thing about it," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "But it give us maybe a little, a lot of comfort for tomorrow's game. We've played against the wall before and we've come out of it. We're going to put a lot of pressure on them."
Matt Garza (0-1) gave up five runs on seven hits in six innings, with four strikeouts and four walks, to take the loss for the Rays. B.J. Upton hit a two-run home run, and Akinori Iwamura had two hits and drove in the other run for the AL East champions.
"To think that you are just going to waltz through this whole thing is not a good thought," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "It's very unreasonable. They're very good. And they're very good in this building also."
Gavin Floyd faces Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine in the pitching matchup Monday.
Chicago plated three runs in the fourth to move in front. Jim Thome laced a double to center to start the rally, Paul Konerko walked, and Ken Griffey Jr. singled to right to load the bases with no outs. Alexei Ramirez lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Thome, and Wise followed by shooting a line drive into the corner in left, scoring Konerko and Griffey for a 4-1 White Sox lead.
Juan Uribe added an RBI single with two outs in the sixth, stretching Chicago's lead to 5-1, but Upton cut the lead to two with his long homer in the seventh.
Danks walked Rocco Baldelli to start the seventh, but fanned Jason Bartlett and got Iwamura to fly out to left. The Chicago right-hander grooved a fastball up and over the plate to Upton, though, and Upton turned on it and sent it deep into the stands in left.
Upton's first career postseason long ball cut the White Sox lead from four runs to two and, after Carlos Pena followed with a single, Danks was pulled for Octavio Dotel. A wild pitch by Dotel allowed Pena to take second, but the White Sox reliever rebounded to strike out Evan Longoria to end the threat.
Matt Thornton worked around a two-out walk in a scoreless eighth, and Bobby Jenks came on in the ninth to close it out for Chicago. Upton singled to left with two outs, bringing the dangerous Pena to the plate, but Jenks struck him out looking for the save, keeping Chicago's season alive for at least another day.
The game was delayed 35 minutes due to rain, and the Rays jumped in front with a run in the second. Dioner Navarro doubled to left with one out, and moved to third on Baldelli's groundout. Bartlett walked, and Iwamura grounded a slow roller to a perfect spot between first base and the mound. The infield single allowed Navarro to score for a 1-0 Tampa Bay lead.
The White Sox knotted the game with a two-out run of their own in the third. Wise walked to lead off the inning and stole second with two outs. Pierzynski then grounded back up the middle, and the RBI single tied the game at 1-1.
Game Notes
Chad Bradford pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Rays. Bradford has not allowed an earned run in 19 career postseason appearances, spanning 18 1/3 innings with the White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and Tampa Bay...The Rays failed to become the fifth team to sweep their first-ever postseason series. The 1914 Boston Braves, 1966 Baltimore Orioles, 1969 New York Mets, and 1997 Florida Marlins all accomplished the feat...Danks had not allowed a home run in eight of his last 11 starts...Pena is 0-for-6 in his career against Jenks with four strikeouts.
<< Canucks sign Hodgson
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks signed center Cody
Hodgson, their top draft choice from this year, to an entry-level contract on
Sunday.
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<< Warner and Cardinals deal Buffalo first loss of season
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kurt Warner threw a pair of touchdown passes
and Tim Hightower scored twice, as the Arizona Cardinals cruised past the
previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills, 41-17.
Warner hit on 33-of-42 pass attempts for
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New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler
left Sunday's 106-103 preseason-opening victory over the Golden State
Warriors in the first quarter with a sprained right ankle.
The injury occurred un
<< Manning, Colts rally to stun Texans
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning's five-yard touchdown pass to
Reggie Wayne with just under two minutes to go capped a furious Indianapolis
comeback as the Colts stunned Houston, 31-27.
Trailing 27-10 late in the fourt
White Sox try to force fifth game against Rays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox try to stave off playoff
elimination this evening when they play Game 4 of the best-of-five American
League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at U.S. Cellular Field.
Chicago lived to play a
BoSox attempt to finish off Angels and advance to ALCS >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox try to advance to their fourth American
League Championship Series in the last six years this evening when they play
Game 4 of the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park.
Boston fa
Hurricanes' Walker undergoes surgery >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carolina right wing Scott Walker had successful
surgery on his left hand Monday morning. The procedure was needed to repair a
torn ligament in the injured hand.
The 35-year-old Walker registered 14 goals a
Brewers' Weeks has successful surgery >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie
Weeks underwent a debridement of the meniscus of the left knee on Monday.
The procedure was performed by Dr. William Raasch at Froedtert Medical Center
in Milwau
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 sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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