A-Rod, Sheff share AL weekly honor

Baseball Betting Lines

06/11/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Detroit Tigers slugger Gary Sheffield were selected as the American League's top players for the week ending June 10.

Rodriguez notched his second Player of the Week honor this year after posting a batting average of .400 with a .960 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base percentage. He belted four home runs, drove in 16 runs and scored seven times in seven games last week.

The two-time AL MVP, who registered five multi-RBI performances last week, also shared the honor in the first week of the season with Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero.

Sheffield also connected for four homers with 11 runs batted in last week, while batting .417 with a 1.000 slugging percentage. He put together three multi-RBI efforts in six games last week.

Others considered for the award included Yankees outfielder Bobby Abreu, who batted .500 with a homer and nine runs batted in; Boston pitcher Curt Schilling, who came within an out of his first career no-hitter; and Cleveland ace C.C. Sabathia, who was 1-0 with 14 strikeouts in 18 innings.

Lottoballls Baseball Betting News

<< Seattle's Reitsma back on DL
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners placed right-handed pitcher Chris Reitsma on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with inflammation in his right elbow. It is Reitsma's second stint on the DL this season as he spent

<< Legendary Vols coach Ray Mears passes away
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The winningest coach in University of Tennessee history, Ray Mears, died Monday at NHC Health Care Center in Knoxville. He was 80 years old. The Dover, Ohio native led the Vols to a 278

<< Austin up to No. 81 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Woody Austin jumped 92 places to No. 81 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking following his win Sunday at the Stanford St. Jude Championship. In Europe, Richard Green's victory at the BA-CA Ope

<< Schiavone, Shaughnessy reach second round in Spain
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone and sixth-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy highlighted Monday's first-round winners at the inaugural $145,000 Barcelona KIA tennis event. Schiavone was leadin

<< Montana State tabs Ash to lead football program
Bozeman, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montana State has named Rob Ash as its new head football coach. Ash spent the past 18 seasons at Drake University and also coached at Division III Juniata College for nine years. He has an overall coaching

Red Sox activate Lester from DL >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester is almost back in the starting lineup after recovering from lymphoma surgery as the team activated him from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtuck

Cubs place Ramirez on DL >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs placed infielder Aramis Ramirez on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with left patellar tendinitis, retroactive to June 7. Also, the club reinstated outfielder Cliff Floyd from the ber

Bonds falls out of top three in OF voting for All-Star Game >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds has fallen out of the top three in the voting for the National League All-Star Game, putting him in danger of not starting and possibly not even being selected to play in

Phillies' Eaton shuts down White Sox >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Eaton tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 blanking of the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park. Pat Burrel

Ibanez lifts Mariners over Indians >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raul Ibanez capped a huge offensive night by driving in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, at Jacobs Field. Ibanez went 4-for-5 with two

College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.