Rodriguez solid as Astros shut down Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez combined with three other pitchers in a three-hit shutout as the Houston Astros blanked the reeling St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0, in the second of three games.

Rodriguez (11-12) gave up two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over seven innings for the Astros, who also blanked the Cardinals by a 3-0 score in the opener on Monday and have won eight of their last 10. Hunter Pence went 2- for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Chris Johnson drove in the other run.

"It's becoming a nice habit to say that our starting pitching did an outstanding job," said Houston manager Brad Mills. "And again, Wandy did a great job again tonight. He's been outstanding for the past two or three months."

Chris Carpenter (14-5) was tagged for three runs -- two earned -- and six hits with two walks and three strikeouts over seven innings for the Cardinals, who have dropped four straight and seven of their last eight.

"Unfortunately it's not going well for us right now," said Carpenter. "We gotta come out tomorrow and do everything we can and try to salvage something from this series."

St. Louis now sits seven games back of Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central as the Reds beat Milwaukee on Tuesday.

St. Louis put runners on first and second with one out in the third, but Colby Rasmus struck out and Albert Pujols flied out to end the inning.

With no score in the fourth, the Astros surged ahead. Michael Bourn reached base to start the inning on a Skip Schumaker error. Angel Sanchez followed with a single and Pence drilled a triple to center to score both runners. Johnson's single later in the frame made it a 3-0 game.

In the seventh, Yadier Molina reached base to start the inning on a Johnson error, but Pedro Feliz struck out, Schumaker hit into a fielder's choice and Brendan Ryan grounded out to end the inning.

With Tim Byrdak on the mound to start the eighth, Aaron Miles drew a leadoff walk. But Wilton Lopez took the mound and set down the next three batters.

Matt Holliday led off with a double off of Brandon Lyon in the ninth and a walk to Schumaker with two outs brought the tying run to the plate, but Lyon struck out Randy Winn to pick up his 10th save of the season.

Game Notes

Molina, who went 0-for-4, had an eight-game hitting streak snapped...Houston has taken nine of 14 games against St. Louis this season...Rodriguez has won his past two starts. He is now 5-11 in 19 games against St. Louis...Carpenter fell to 7-5 in 17 starts against Houston...St. Louis went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base.

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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.