Angels, Mariners to square off in battle of reeling clubs

Baseball Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of slumping American League West rivals get together tonight in the Emerald City, where the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim collide in the opener of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

The Mariners have dropped six straight games, while Anaheim enters tonight's tilt riding a seven-game slide. Both teams are last in the division standings, 3 1/2 games behind both Oakland and Texas.

Seattle is still winless on its nine-game homestand after getting swept in back-to-back series with the Rangers and Tampa Bay. In Thursday's 8-0 loss in the series finale with the Rays, Ryan Rowland-Smith had a rough outing and lasted just 4 1/3 innings, permitting six runs on seven hits and three walks.

"I'm a better pitcher than what's going on right now on the field," Rowland- Smith said after falling to 0-2 on the season.

Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jose Lopez provided the hits for the Mariners, who were outhit by a 12-4 margin and have lost 10 of their last 12 contests.

Seattle has been struggling offensively in 2010 and sits second-to-last in the majors in average (.230), slugging percentage (.321), runs (91) and RBI (86). The club also placed outfielder Milton Bradley on the restricted list Thursday. Bradley recently asked the team for help with some personal and emotional issues.

Felix Hernandez hopes to leave his current issues in the dust when he takes the bump for the Mariners tonight. Hernandez has lost two straight starts since opening the season 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA, and is coming off a rough outing versus Texas on Saturday.

The righty was reached for five runs and eight hits over a season-worst 4 1/3 innings pitched against the Rangers, falling to 2-2 in six starts and boosting his ERA to 3.10. Hernandez first lost on April 26 at Kansas City, where he yielded three runs -- two earned -- through seven innings.

"King Felix", who tossed a complete game on April 21 versus Baltimore, will make his 17th career start against the Angels and owns a 4-5 mark with a 4.20 ERA in this series.

Los Angeles is coming off a four-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and fell to 0-7 on a 10-game road trip. It entered the series in Beantown following a three-game seep by Detroit and blew an early 4-0 lead in last night's 11-6 loss to the Red Sox.

Scott Kazmir failed in his bid for his third win of the season by surrendering seven runs on six hits and five walks through 4 1/3 innings.

"I got behind on a lot of hitters, walked five guys. It's something where you're just fighting yourself," Kazmir said. "You're not going to have a good outcome when you're putting people on base every single inning."

Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer and Howie Kendrick ended with two hits and a pair of runs driven in for Anaheim.

The Angels will send Jered Weaver to the mound Friday with hopes of the right- hander rebounding from his first loss of the season. After beginning the year 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA in five starts, Weaver was pummeled by the Tigers in a 5-1 loss at Comerica Park on Sunday.

Weaver lasted a season-low 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs and seven hits, despite striking out seven batters and walking just one. He was coming off a six-inning stint against Cleveland in which he allowed only one run. The wiry right-hander's season ERA rose from 2.53 to 3.19.

The Long Beach State product is very familiar with the Mariners, as evidenced by his 8-3 record and 4.61 ERA in 14 career starts against them.

Los Angeles went 10-9 against the Mariners last season and has won three straight and five of the last seven matchups between the clubs. These two teams split 10 meetings at Safeco Field a season ago.

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Betting Football

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Is 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.