A-Rod lands on DL with calf injury

Baseball Betting Lines

08/21/2010 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees placed third baseman Alex Rodriguez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left calf after Saturday's 9-5 win over Seattle.

Rodriguez returned to the lineup as the designated hitter for Friday's series opener after a three-game absence, only to leave after just one at-bat with tightness in the calf area.

Rodriguez has swatted 21 home runs and knocked in 97 runs this year while holding a .265 average through 112 games.

Eduardo Nunez made the first start of his major league career Saturday at third base in Rodriguez's absence, recording his first hit with an RBI single in a three-run seventh inning.

Right-hander Ivan Nova will be called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Rodriguez on the roster. Nova will make his first career start on Monday in Toronto.

Wmegachannels Baseball Betting News

<< Padres activate Eckstein from DL
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have reinstated infielder David Eckstein from the 15-day disabled list among a handful of moves prior to Saturday's game against Milwaukee. Eckstein was placed on the disabl

<< Atwal alone at the top of Wyndham Championship
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arjun Atwal fired a five-under 65 on Saturday to take sole possession of the lead after the third round of the Wyndham Championship. Atwal, who fired a 61 for the first-round lead and shared

<< Chargers OT Thomas retires
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers revealed on Saturday that left tackle Tra Thomas has retired. Thomas had been signed to a one-year contract back in June, but knee troubles ended his preparation for the upcoming

<< Strong seventh gets Yanks by Mariners
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira's sacrifice fly capped a three-run seventh inning, as the New York Yankees beat Seattle, 9-5, in the second portion of a three-game set. Robinson Cano hit a two-run single and Jorge Posada ad

<< N.Y., Marquez end Toronto's home unbeaten streak
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Marquez scored his first goal in Major League Soccer and Red Bull New York handed Toronto FC its first home defeat in more than a year, 4-1 on Saturday at BMO Field. Marquez scored off a swerving, 25-

Alouettes QB Calvillo out of hospital >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo has been released from the hospital and is resting at home. Calvillo was removed from Thursday's 39-17 rout of Winnipeg at Molson Stadium with a bruis

El Hamdaoui's double leads Ajax over Roda >>
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mounir El Hamdaoui scored twice and Luis Suarez added a goal, leading Ajax to a 3-0 win over Roda on Saturday and into first place in the Dutch Eredivisie. El Hamdaoui scored the first goal at Ams

Lehman moves in front at the Tradition >>
Sunriver, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Lehman posted a three-under 69 on Saturday to move in front after the third round of the Tradition, the fourth Champions Tour major of the season. Lehman, who won one of those majors, the Senior PGA Cham

Wondolowski's early goal is enough for San Jose >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A goal from Chris Wondolowski in the fourth minute was enough for the San Jose Earthquakes to claim a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy at Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday. The goal came after Bobby Convey'

Fish dunks Roddick, reaches Cincy final >>
Mason, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mardy Fish rallied past fellow American Andy Roddick in the early rain-slowed semifinal matchup Saturday at the $3 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, a U.S. Open Series event. R

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.