Hamilton scratched from Rangers' lineup
Baseball Betting Lines
07/31/2010 -
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -Major league batting leader Josh Hamilton was scratched from the Texas Rangers' lineup Saturday night because of patella tendinitis in his right knee.
Hamilton, hitting .362 with 23 homers and 75 RBIs, started in center field in Friday night's 9-7 loss to the Angels. He was shifted to left field in the fifth inning after feeling discomfort in his troublesome knee, and came out of the game in the seventh.
The three-time All-Star missed his fourth game of the season, and the first because of injury. He is batting .411 with six homers and 22 RBIs in 32 games since his last unscheduled day off on June 23. But he opted not to take another cortisone shot.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Ortiz provided some late-game dramatics yet again, belting a game-winning three-run double in the ninth inning to lift the Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Ryan Perry, who came into t
<< Boston calls up Kalish; designates Hermida for assignment
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox designated outfielder Jeremy
Hermida for assignment to make room on the 25-man roster for outfield prospect
Ryan Kalish, who was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Kalish was immediately ins
<< Couples joins Langer in lead at U.S. Senior Open
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hometown favorite Fred Couples fired a five-
under 65 Saturday to grab a share of the lead after three rounds of the U.S.
Senior Open.
Second-round leader Bernhard Langer birdied the 18th hole to card a t
<< Yanks, Phils set themselves up for a rematch
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I guess the Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians really
enjoyed last year's World Series.
After the Astros paid the Philadelphia Phillies to basically take Roy Oswalt
off their hands, Houston general manager Ed Wade
<< Burrell blasts Giants over Dodgers
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pat Burrell smacked a two-out, two-run
homer off Jonathan Broxton in the eighth inning to help the Giants steal a 2-1
decision over the Dodgers in the second meeting of a three-game series.
Hong-Chih
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Sam Querrey battled back from a set down to defeat sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic in the semifinals Saturday at the $700,000 Farmers Classic tennis event. The second-seeded American Que
Mainz signs striker Allagui >>
Mainz, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mainz signed striker Sami Allagui from SpVgg
Greuther Furth of the Bundesliga 2 on Saturday.
Allagui, 24, signed a three-year contract through the 2012-13 season, with an
option for a fourth year.
"Sami
Giants sign top two picks >>
Albany, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have signed defensive end
Jason Pierre-Paul, their first round draft choice, and defensive tackle Linval
Joseph, their second round choice.
No terms of the deals were announced.
Pierre-
Butler's late homer lifts Royals over O's >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy Butler's go-ahead, two-run homer in
the eighth proved to be the difference, lifting the Kansas City Royals to a
4-3 win over the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
Butler's 10th home run of the season ga
Oilers come to terms with Deslauriers >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goaltender Jeff Deslauriers has come to terms
on a one-year contract to remain with the Edmonton Oilers.
The 26-year-old Deslauriers went 16-28-4 with a 3.26 goals against average in
48 games last season. H
FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
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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.
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