Rasmus, Cardinals dominate Braves
Baseball Betting Lines
09/09/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Rasmus went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs and four RBI as St. Louis dominated Atlanta, 11-4, in the opener of a four-game set.
Skip Schumaker went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run and two runs scored while Brendan Ryan added two hits, two RBI and two runs scored for the Cardinals, who had dropped their previous two.
Adam Wainwright (18-10) bounced back from a rough first inning to get the win as he was charged with three runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts over eight innings. He snapped a four-start losing streak.
With the win and Cincinnati's loss to Colorado on Thursday, the Cardinals trimmed their deficit in the NL Central to five games.
Derrek Lee clubbed a two-run home run while Jason Heyward and Eric Hinske each drove in a run for the Braves, who have dropped six of their last eight. Jair Jurrjens (7-5) was tagged for seven runs on 10 hits with a walk and two strikeouts over just 3 2/3 innings.
The loss moved Atlanta to a game back of Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. Also, it trimmed Atlanta's wild card lead to 1 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco, which plays San Diego later on Thursday.
Atlanta plated three runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Omar Infante led off with a single that saw him move to third base on a pair of throwing errors. Heyward followed with a single to score Infante and Lee later added a shot over the right field wall, his 17th home run of the season.
St. Louis, though, answered to the tune of five runs in the second. Back-to- back one-out singles were followed by an RBI single from Pedro Feliz. Ryan later added a two-run single and Schumaker then hit the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the season.
The Cardinals made it a 7-3 game in the fourth as Randy Winn's sacrifice fly was followed by a solo shot from Albert Pujols.
Rasmus led off the fifth with a shot over the right field wall to give St. Louis an 8-3 lead.
A two-run single off the bat of Rasmus in the sixth extended the Cardinals' lead to 10-3.
Atlanta, meanwhile, struggled to get baserunners as over the next six innings Wainwright faced the minimum. The only batter to get on base was Nate McLouth, who led off the fifth with a single but was then forced out when Infante followed with a double play.
In the eighth, McLouth led off with a single, but Infante again grounded into a double play and Freddie Freeman struck out.
Rasmus' solo blast in the ninth made it an 11-3 game while Hinske added an RBI groundout in the Braves' portion of the ninth to account for the final score.
Game Notes
St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday was ejected in the fourth inning by home plate umpire Mike DiMuro for slamming his helmet on the ground after being called out on strikes...St. Louis has won all five matchups with Atlanta this season...Wainwright improved to 6-0 in nine games against the Braves...Jurrjens fell to 1-4 against St. Louis in five career starts and lost for the first time at home this season. He was 6-0 at Turner Field coming into the game...It was the second multi-HR game of Rasmus' career.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.