Witt powers IL to All-Star victory

Baseball Betting Lines

07/13/2006 - Toledo, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Witt crushed a two-run homer and seven pitchers allowed only two hits to lead the International League to a 6-0 victory over the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star Game at Toledo's Fifth Third Field.

Witt, a member of the Durham Bulls, went 3-for-3 with three runs batted in, while Syracuse's Kevin Barker and hometown hero Ryan Raburn of the Toledo Mud Hens each hit solo home runs. Louisville's Chris Denorfia was 1-for-3 with two runs scored in the contest.

Heath Phillips of the Charlotte Knights pitched two hitless innings for the win.

Portland's Justin Leone and James Loney of the Las Vegas 51s recorded the only two hits for the PCL, while Nashville's Ben Hendrickson allowed three unearned runs on three hits and a walk in two innings for the loss.

After the teams traded zeroes for the first two innings, the International League moved in front with three runs in the third. Jorge Velandia of the Charlotte Knights scored on Hendrickson's wild pitch and Witt deposited a two- run homer over the fence in right-center.

Charlie Haeger, Phillips and Chad Durbin combined to retire the first 14 batters of the game until Leone doubled off the wall in left in the fifth. However, he was stranded as Loney grounded out to end the inning.

A double of the bat of Witt in the fifth put the IL up 4-0. Jason Hirsh, a member of the Round Rock Express, replaced Hendrickson and Denorfia greeted him with a single. Denorfia moved to second on a groundout and was sent home on Witt's two-bagger off the wall in left.

The IL offense continued to roll adding a pair of runs in the seventh. With Sacramento's Matt Roney pitching, Barker and Raburn hit back-to-back homers for a 6-0 advantage.

After Leone's fifth inning double, three pitchers combined to set down nine of the next 10 hitters until James Loney picked up the second hit of the game for the PCL.

Charlotte's Jeff Farnsworth walked John Baker of the Sacramento River Cats to begin the ninth but retired the next three batters to close out the game.

Honestead Baseball Betting News

<< Eye On Gambling (EOG.com): $200,000 Pro Football Handicappers Challenge Offers $75,000 Top Prize and 51 Other Payoffs
If you think you know football and want to reap a big-time payoff for your expertise, the Pro Football Handicappers Challenge -- with $200,000 in guaranteed prize money -- is the contest to enter. First prize is $75,000, and if you can hit 66.7% or b

<< AT&T U-verse TV to Include NFL Network
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and NFL Network today announced a distribution agreement to deliver NFL Network programming as part of the AT&T U-verse TV channel lineup.

<< Eye On Gambling (EOG.com): BetOnSports Posts NCAA Football Win Totals
Just days after announcing they were one of the first online sports betting sites to post week one odds and totals for the slate of NFL and college football games, odds makers at leading sports wagering site

<< Eye On Gambling (EOG.com): Odds On Next English Team Captain From PinnacleSports.com
Following their devastating penalty shoot out loss to Portugal in the World Cup, the English National Team lost its captain as David Beckham announced his resignation from the post after five and a half years. With one of the most prestigious positio

<< The Fearless Reviews of the Independent Press
The Fearless Reviews offer eleven new write-ups of the best work of independent publishers for July-August 2006

Henin-Hardenne won't play Fed Cup this weekend >>
Ostend, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium won't play in the Fed Cup semifinals this weekend against the United States. Henin-Hardenne followed up her second straight title at Roland Garros with

Rangers open second half in Baltimore >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers begin the season's second half with an 11-game road trip which starts tonight in Baltimore, where the Orioles welcome the American League West co-leaders to Camden Yards for the opener of a four- game se

Cardinals invite Dodgers to town >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals will open a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals entered the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak and own a four-game lead over Cincinnat

Detroit Tigers midseason progress report >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers burst out of the gates and never looked back. The once-lowly franchise that always looked up at the rest of the league at the All-Star break now has every team in the majors looking up at them. How did t

Florida Marlins midseason progress report >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins were penciled in as the last place team in the National League East before spring training even started, but the Fish have other ideas. Not many teams would be excited about being 10 games under .500 at

Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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








Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.