AL West: Mariners' rotation getting healthy, bats still cold
Baseball Betting Lines
05/03/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The imposing starting rotation which Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik dreamt up this offseason is nearly in place.
Former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, acquired in an offseason trade from Philadelphia, made his long-awaited debut on Friday, tossing seven shutout innings against the Texas Rangers, striking out eight. Lee, who went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts for the Phillies a year ago, is now fully recovered from an abdominal injury.
Also last week, Erik Bedard threw a 55-pitch bullpen session devoid of any setbacks and could soon be ready to begin a rehab assignment. Bedard had season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum last summer. The Mariners are hopeful Bedard can return to form after posting a 2.82 ERA in 15 starts last year before being shut down. The team is still playing it safe, targeting the end of May for his return
"He looks better than before," manager Don Wakamatsu told the team's Website.
Considering Bedard allowed two or fewer runs in 13 of his 15 starts last season, that's quite a statement.
"It looks like his arm is a little freer, and he's not putting as much stress on it," Wakamatsu continued. "We're pretty excited about that, and we think he is, too. It's one thing to get him back. The second part is to try to keep him from the injuries recurring."
Of course, Seattle still has Felix Hernandez atop the rotation. King Felix allowed five runs in Saturday's 6-3 loss to Texas, breaking a remarkable string of 18 consecutive quality starts (six innings or more, three earned runs or less) dating back to May of last season.
Doug Fister (2-1, 1.29) has shined thus far in his first full season. On Sunday, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Texas and went on to allow just three hits in eight innings. However, the M's lost the game, 3-1, which has been the running theme on the young season. They also spoiled Lee's masterpiece in a 2-0 setback to the Rangers on Friday.
Even without Lee and Bedard for the season's first month, the M's starters still rank second in the American League with a 3.23 combined ERA, behind only Tampa Bay (2.64). Where those two teams differ, however, is in the win-loss column, as the Rays' starters have gone 14-3, while Seattle's starting staff is just 6-7.
Obviously, Seattle's offense has left much to be desired. Only two players are hitting above .250. Situational hitting has been virtually nonexistent. The team went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position during Saturday's 6-3 loss to Texas. Also, the Mariners have a Major League-worst nine home runs on the season, a total which is matched by five individual players across the league. Chicago's Paul Konerko has 12. Then again, maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise when the heart of the order is comprised of Franklin Gutierrez, Jose Lopez and Milton Bradley
In an interview with local reporters over the weekend, Wakamatsu said he has kicked around several potential changes with the lineup, but any help from outside the organization is ultimately up to Zduriencik.
"I think you're going to constantly look," Wakamatsu told the Seattle Times. "The way we're playing right now, we're (two games) out. If that increases, then we're going to look to do something else."
RANGERS SHAKE OFF ADVERSITY, LEAPFROG TO TOP OF AL WEST STANDINGS
Entering play today, only two games separate the first-place Texas Rangers (13-12) and the last-place Seattle Mariners (11-14) in the AL West pecking order.
Thanks to a three-game sweep of the Mariners over the weekend, Texas is now the pace-setter in the division standings. In sweeping that series, the Rangers were able to overcome seven shutout innings against Mariners' starter Cliff Lee on Friday, and eight shutout frames against Doug Fister on Sunday. All told, the Rangers have now won five of their last six, which is quite an accomplishment when you consider some of the injuries the team has had to deal with.
All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler was activated from the disabled list on Friday after missing the first month of the season with a high ankle sprain. In his place, Joaquin Arias hit .321.
All-Star right fielder Nelson Cruz, who is hitting .323 with a team-high seven homers and 17 RBI, was placed on the DL last week with a strained right hamstring. He is expected to be out until mid-May. No worries there, as his replacement, David Murphy drove in the game-tying run in the 9th inning and the game-winning run in the 11th of Sunday's dramatic victory.
And with that, the Rangers have sent a strong message that they don't plan on bowing out when the chips are down.
ANGELS' STARTERS EYEING CONSISTENCY
Considering how tight things are in the AL West standings, it's still too early for Angels' manager Mike Scioscia to worry about his starting rotation. The starters are 9-12 with a combined 4.96 ERA, which ranks fourth-worst in the AL. The only consistent one of the bunch has been Jered Weaver (3-1, 3.19). The rest of the rotation, not so good.
Ervin Santana (1-2, 4.59), Joel Pineiro (2-3, 5.76), Joe Saunders (1-4, 5.74) and Scott Kazmir (2-1, 5.57) have all struggled to get going to this point. However, Scioscia feels it's only a matter of time before things get turned around.
"We haven't seen the level of consistency we want or expect, but that doesn't change our evaluation of what we have," Scioscia told the team's website. "We have good arms down there with really good talent. I feel confident that we will see the rotation more in line with what we saw at the end of last year, when we were really going well."
With the team headed to Boston for Game No. 4 of its 10-game road trip, sooner or later Scioscia will need to start seeing some returns from his starting rotation, which was billed as one of the team's biggest strengths heading into the season.
TIME TO WORRY ABOUT SHEETS?
When Oakland general manager Billy Beane made a play for Ben Sheets in the offseason, the hope was that he'd be getting the starting pitcher who more closely resembled a four-time All-Star, and not the one whose career has been sidetracked by injuries.
But after leaving in the fourth inning of Sunday's start against Toronto, Beane is still waiting for the former version of his new ace to show up. In just 3 1/3 innings, Sheets was charged with nine earned runs on 10 hits against the Blue Jays. He hadn't given up nine runs in a start since August 2005. He also allowed eight extra-base hits, which is believed to be an Oakland record, according to The Oakland Tribune.
Sheets' latest start followed up another ugly outing in Tampa Bay last Tuesday, in which he allowed eight runs on nine hits in just four innings of work. His ERA now stands at 7.12, not what Beane and the front office had in mind.
"My location is terrible," Sheets said after Sunday's meltdown. "You can't throw the ball in the middle of the plate in the big leagues. I don't think I could throw a ball that's not in the middle of the plate to a Little Leaguer right now. They hit the ball hard. Their outs were hard. Everything was hard.
"I wouldn't say my location's been this bad ever since my rookie year. I think if you've got stuff, you can (overcome poor location) a little more. My stuff's not bad, but it's not unbelievable either."
When you're paying someone $10 million to be a 'stopper,' that's certainly not an encouraging sound bite, particularly with the team just wrapping up a 1-5 road trip.
AMES, Iowa (AP) -Iowa State reserve guard Charles Boozer says he's leaving the team to seek treatment for unspecified problems.Boozer was arrested over the weekend after a woman told police he slapped and kicked her.Police say Boozer was charged wit
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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.
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