09/06/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite Albert Pujols' continued hot-hitting, the St. Louis Cardinals have been unable to come up with a winning streak. The club will try to avoid falling further back in the National League wild card race in the continuation of a three-game series with the Florida Marlins tonight at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals fell in extra innings to the Marlins yesterday, giving them six losses in their last seven games. Coupled with Milwaukee's win on Friday, St. Louis is now six games back of the Brewers for the wild card spot.
The Marlins are nine games back as well and seven behind NL East-leading New York.
Pujols had a pair of doubles in Friday's 4-1, 11-inning setback. He leads the majors with a .360 average and has a hit in 15 of his last 17 games. He is hitting .470 (31-for-66) in that span with 10 multi-hit games.
Yet, St. Louis hasn't won back-to-back games since August 20-22 and is just 27-30 since July 1.
Dan Uggla singled home the go-ahead run for the Marlins, who themselves won consecutive games for the first time since July 30-31. Mike Jacobs homered in the ninth to force extra innings.
The Marlins will now try to win three straight for the first time since a four-game run from July 9-12.
Florida's victory in last night's series opener was just its second in five games versus the Cardinals this year. The Marlins haven't defeated St. Louis in two straight since August 5-6, 2003.
Scott Olsen will try to avoid a sixth consecutive losing decision tonight for the Marlins.
The left-hander is 0-5 over his last eight starts, posting a 5.70 earned run average in that span. Having not won since July 19, Olsen was tagged for six runs on seven hits -- including three homers -- in a loss to the Mets on Sunday.
Olsen, 24, is 6-9 with a 4.35 ERA on the season and 1-3 in four career starts versus the Cards with a 6.12 ERA. That includes a loss on August 14 in which he gave up three runs on 10 hits over seven innings.
He has had some success against Pujols, who is hitting just .231 (3-for-13) lifetime against him with a homer and four RBI.
Todd Wellemeyer starts for the Cardinals and has lost back-to-back starts. He pitched well last time out though, holding Houston to just a run on four hits over seven innings without a walk in a 3-0 loss on Sunday, one day after the right-hander celebrated his 30th birthday.
Wellemeyer is 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA this year. He won his lone career start against St. Louis on August 14, throwing 7 2/3 shutout innings.
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Crans Montana, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rory McIlroy fired a five-under
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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.
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