Dodgers beat up Lilly, Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Martin clubbed a three-run homer, while Andre Ethier delivered three hits and two RBI as the Dodgers held off the Chicago Cubs, 9-7, in the second installment of a four-game series.

Casey Blake also knocked in two runs for Los Angeles, which won for the eighth time in 11 games.

Chad Billingsley (7-4) broke his five-start winless skid by fanning nine batters over seven-plus innings. He yielded seven hits, four runs and walked four batters, but managed to record his first victory since May 26 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

"I was aggressive in the strike zone tonight," Billingsley said. "I was able to get quick outs in the middle of the game, which allowed me to go back out there in the eighth. I was able to make pitches when I had to."

Marlon Byrd had four hits and knocked in three runs for the Cubs, who lost 3-2 in the opener Thursday after coming into the series off a three-game sweep of Arizona.

Ted Lilly (3-8) was pounded for a second straight start, giving up seven hits and seven runs -- five earned -- over 3 2/3 innings. The lefty has given up 18 hits and 14 earned runs over the last two appearances.

"Ted wasn't sharp at all. He's gotten the ball up in his last couple of starts," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "The key to the game was we had ample opportunities early and we didn't take advantage of it and they did."

The Cubs have fanned 26 times in the first two games of this series.

Chicago nearly rallied from a six-run deficit. Justin Miller's wild pitch scored Byrd in the eighth and Koyie Hill followed with a sacrifice fly for a 9-5 difference.

Kosuke Fukudome singled to start the ninth. The Dodgers then went to Jonathan Broxton, who retired the next two batters, but Aramis Ramirez tripled before scoring on a Byrd base hit. Byrd was in scoring position when Tyler Colvin struck out to end the game.

Chicago loaded the bases with nobody out in the second, but got just one run - on Mike Fontenot's groundout. Billingsley fanned Hill and Lilly to escape the inning.

James Loney singled and Blake walked in advance of Martin's homer to left in the bottom of the second.

After Byrd singled in a run in the third, the Dodgers added three more in the bottom of the frame. Ethier had an RBI single and Matt Kemp added a run- scoring double. Ethier came home on Blake's sacrifice fly.

Ethier's single to right scored Xavier Paul in the fourth for a 7-2 margin.

The teams traded runs in the fifth with Byrd's groundout plating Derrek Lee in the top half and Blake's two-bagger scoring Loney for the Dodgers. Loney's RBI double in the sixth made it 9-3.

Game Notes

LA has won seven of its last nine regular season meetings with the Cubs at Dodger Stadium...Ramirez had three hits...Blake went 1-for-2 at the plate. He entered Friday just 2-for-25 in July.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.

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.