Dodgers, Braves open series at Turner Field

Baseball Betting Lines

08/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The absence of a couple of key regulars didn't affect the Atlanta Braves' offense in their last outing. The National League East front- runners will attempt to build off Sunday's scoring barrage when they complete a four-game series with the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at Turner Field.

After mustering a mere two runs in splitting the first two tests of this set, the Braves' bats broke out in a big way on Sunday. Atlanta matched a season high with 16 hits in a 13-1 rout of the Dodgers, the team's highest scoring output since beating Arizona by an identical 13-1 count on May 16.

The Braves scored four times in the bottom of the third inning, capped by Alex Gonzalez's two-run triple, and four more in the fifth to build a commanding 8-0 lead. Troy Glaus belted a three-run homer in that frame and added an RBI single later in the contest.

Gonzalez knocked in four runs as well on the afternoon, while Omar Infante went 3-for-5 with an RBI single and scored three times for Atlanta.

Jair Jurrjens (5-4) also did his part on Sunday, with the Atlanta starter limiting the Dodgers to one run and striking out seven batters over the first seven innings. He improved to 5-0 at Turner Field this season and lowered his home earned run average to a stellar 1.83.

"It's always good when you have runs. You can go out and just throw strikes," said Jurrjens. "You don't need to make intense pitches all the time. When the game is close, every pitch means something and can be the game. With a big score like that, you go out and throw and try to work with a pitch count."

Infante is filling in at second base for All-Star Martin Prado, sidelined since July 30 with a broken right pinkie finger. The Braves will also be without slugger Chipper Jones for the remainder of the season after the veteran third baseman tore the ACL in his left knee last Tuesday.

It doesn't seem to matter much who's in the lineup for Atlanta when the team plays at Turner Field. The Braves are a major-league best 41-16 at home this season, a prime reason why the team holds a two-game edge on Philadelphia for first place in the East.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, have now lost 13 of their last 16 away tests and are a poor 24-34 as the visitor on the year. The defending NL West champs have gone 2-4 thus far on a road trip that ends tonight and find themselves 6 1/2 games behind the Phillies and San Francisco for the lead in the league's Wild Card standings.

"I think it's very frustrating," said Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier of his team's present situation. "We're all trying to achieve a goal. We're just trying to get back into the race in our division. We didn't come out and perform like a team in the race. It's just embarrassing when you're trying to make a push to the playoffs."

On a positive note, Dodgers outfielder Scott Podsednik extended his hitting streak to 12 games after opening Sunday's test with a double. The trade- deadline pickup is batting .380 (19-for-50) over the course of his tear.

Los Angeles was done in by a shoddy pitching performance from Vicente Padilla (6-4) on Sunday, with the right-hander rocked for eight runs and eight hits before exiting after 4 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers will be counting on a better showing from tonight's starter Chad Billingsley. The steady right-hander in turn hopes for a little bit of support from his offense, as Los Angeles has mustered just one run in a three-start winless streak (two losses, one no-decision) he carries into the series finale.

In his most recent assignment, Billingsley held the Phillies to two runs on five hits over six innings in a shutout defeat in Philadelphia last Wednesday. Two starts earlier, he blanked San Francisco over six frames but was stuck without a decision in an eventual 2-1 Dodgers' loss on July 31.

Unlike his team, Billingsley has usually done well on the road this year, having compiled a 5-3 record with a 2.96 ERA in 12 starts in visiting parks. He's just 1-3 lifetime against Atlanta, however, and lost to the Braves at home back on June 5 after allowing three runs in six innings.

Tommy Hanson, who gets the call for Atlanta this evening, has also endured some tough luck as of late. The young righty yielded just one unearned run and two hits over seven innings this past Wednesday in Houston, but was denied a victory when closer Billy Wagner blew a save opportunity in the night. That effort followed a no-decision against the Giants on August 6 in which Hanson gave up one run and three hits in seven innings.

The 23-year-old did best Billingsley and the Dodgers in that above-mentioned June 5 clash by tossing six innings of two-run ball, and is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two lifetime starts against Los Angeles.

The Dodgers did earn a split of their four-game home series with the Braves in early June, but have lost in seven of their past 10 trips to Turner Field.

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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.

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