OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper and baseball betting expert Matt Rivers  has a pick on the Pittsburgh Pirates (+138) against St. Louis.

Hey, why not? Don’t mess with the scrappy little Bucos as they truly should have just swept the series at Wrigley from the Cubs as the visitors completely dominated that thing and aren’t as dreadful as some may think.

Don’t get me wrong, Pittsburgh is still a bad major league team that shouldn’t win many more than 70 games but they do have some potential with Jones, McCutchen and a few others and Charlie Morton is a former Brave who every now and then shows a quality upside. McCutchen did sit out yesterday’s game with neck spasms but I hope and do think he should be all right today.

In the last spring start Morton shut down the Phillies at Citizens Bank and despite his terrible numbers a season ago isn’t all that bad. Is he better than Kyle Lohse? To be honest with you he quite possibly is and the way things are going with the Cardinals I have no qualms at all about taking back a price like this against them.

Tony LaRussa’s team is in trouble, they really are. Losing Adam Wainwright was disastrous, then the way they fell in the opening game to the Padres thanks in part to that two out tying home run in the 9^th inning was horrendous and then the injury a few hours later to Matt Holliday was brutal and maybe more of a sign to come with this team. The Redbirds did finally win that game yesterday to get in the win column but there isn’t much besides Albert in the St. Louis lineup and I sure as heck do not trust Lohse and especially not when laying this price.

The St. Louis right-hander is interesting. When he is on he can be on for a few months and look like a borderline All-Star. But when the guy is off which we saw last season through the injuries he is extremely hittable and not good at all.

Pittsburgh without a doubt can win this game and to get such a pretty penny back from what may be a bad Cardinal team cannot be fully passed up.

Top expert pick on this game: Pittsburgh from Matt Rivers

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Get another 400,000* winner today in the championship game between Butler and UConn. I am literally 7-2 on or against the Bulldogs and Huskies in the Big Dance and am going to finish it off in style today improving to 8-2. If anybody on this planet doubts me then they are and will be the fool! Rivers card is at OffshoreInsiders.com

It’s the National Championship game Butler vs. Connecticut. Here is the official sports handicappers preview. Connecticut (-3.5) is the favorite with a posted total of 128.5.

Butler is 28-9 straight up and 20-13 against the spread, going over 20-14. UConn is 31-9 outright, 22-12 according to the Vegas sportsbooks lines. They’ve gone under 19-14 this season. Suffice to say, both teams enter with nice spread streaks, Butler covering seven straight, Connecticut 9-of-10. The Huskies have gone under 5-of-6.

Butler scores 72.1 points per game to teams that normally allow 67.2 on 44.1 percent shooting to 43.2.  Butler permits 64.4 points per game to teams normally getting 69.1 on 42.6 percent shooting to 43.9.

Connecticut scores 72.8 points per game to squads usually permitting 65.8 on 43.6 percent shooting to 41.7. They allow 65.4 points per game against units that normally get 70.8 permitting 39.9 percent from the field to 44.4.

Spread betting trends (all records are against the spread): The Bulldogs are 7-0 in NCAA Tournament games as an underdog, 7-0 off straight up win, 22-4 vs. a team with a winning % above .600, 41-16 nonconference games, 27-11 on neutral courts.

The Huskies 10-1 in nonconference games, 20-6 on neutral courts, 20-8 vs. a team with a winning % above .600, but 6-15 as a favorite of 0.5-6.5.

Over/under trends: Connecticut under 22-10 as favorites but over 17-8 as neutral court favorites.

Top expert pick on this game: It’s from the winningest sports service of all-time GodsTips. We swept the semis with Butler, Connecticut, and Connecticut under. Counting the Women’s Final 4 and NBA, we are 6-1 the last seven basketball and 8-4 overall. It’s literally one of the strongest championship game sides in college football and basketball we’ve ever seen and we hit better than 60 percent of them, so that is saying a ton. Click now to purchase

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a free pick Sunday is on the Cleveland Cavaliers (+11.5) to the NY Knicks.

Reasoning: Sure Cleveland stinks and talent wise can’t hold a candle to Amare, Carmelo and the Knicks but somehow Byron Scott’s squad is 3-0 this season against the boys from New York and to get a dozen or so tonight seems like a bit much.

I am not going to act as if the Cavaliers are going to sweep the season series because they’re not. The Knicks are going to win this game and fatten themselves up a bit as this soft schedule comes to bare but Mike D’Antoni’s team still is not playing well defensively and therefore can’t be laying such a hefty price. The Knicks looked flat out lousy in having to come back to defeat the Nets the other night allowing Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries to control a lot of the paint and are just not very good right now.

Since the trade with Denver things have gone fairly rough. Yes the New Yorkers looked really good in the comeback win down in South Beach about a month ago, and I do expect some wins coming up, but there have been a lot of losses since and therefore to get a number like this is certainly worth it. JJ Hickson has been playing at a high level and guys like Baron Davis, Ramon Sessions and Boobie Gibson are capable and worthy of a play tonight.

15-60 is beyond dreadful but three of those victories came against the Knicks and maybe, just maybe, there’s something to that. Even if not a dozen is a ton to get and always-backdoor territory.

For more information: That’s right, a 400,000* on UConn outright and a 300,000* On Butler. The only loser was the 200,000* Pirates plus 165 blowing a 3-0 8^th inning lead. I am absolutely feeling great and continually destroying that Crookie and I mean destroying!

A pair of Sunday winners as I begin a new week with the same incredible results. Get another big-time 400,000* NBA underdog winner plus a 300,000* afternoon lock on the diamond. Two more fire hot locks! Rivers picks are up now at OffshoreInsiders.com

Vegas Matty debuts Tuesday. He is a sample of what you will get.

Denver Nuggets (46-29) at Los Angeles Lakers (55-20)

Analysis: The two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have been nearly unstoppable since the All-Star break with an unreal 17-1 record straight-up.  But the Lakers have been much more mortal against the spread during that stretch with a 12-6 mark, including 3-4 in their past seven games.  These Denver Nuggets will also be playing LA for the first time since getting rid of Carmelo Anthony, their former star who took his talents to the Big Apple in a blockbuster trade right before the Lakers went on their run.  The Nuggets enjoyed past success against Los Angeles with Anthony, going 1-4-1 ATS in the last six meetings.  They have been a better team without him though with a 14-4 record and incredible 15-2-1 ATS mark.  The Lakers expended a lot of energy on Friday during their comeback from a 17-point deficit in the second quarter at Utah in an eventual 96-85 victory, and they are just 24-23 ATS when playing on one day of rest this season.  That trend alone makes this game a toss-up, and the others also point in Denver’s direction.  Since this is a nationally televised game, the line is a bit inflated with more people betting LA.  Take the Nuggets to keep it close and stay within the seven points.

Pick: Nuggets +7

San Francisco Giants (1-2) at Los Angeles Dodgers (2-1)

Analysis: The San Francisco Giants looked like the defending World Series champions on Saturday in a 10-0 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but do not forget what happened in the first two games of this series.  The Dodgers outdueled the Giants on the mound, which is exactly what should happen on Sunday Night Baseball.  In the latest meeting, LA’s Ted Lilly got knocked out after giving up four runs in 4.2 innings, but Hiroki Kuroda should be able to right the ship and give the home team a series victory against their division rivals.  Kuroda had a 3.39 ERA last season, and that number was up just slightly vs. the Giants at 3.56.  He also owns San Francisco’s Freddy Sanchez, who has only two hits in 12 career at-bats against him.  Barry Zito takes the mound for the Giants after getting into an auto accident in West Hollywood on Wednesday.  Zito was deemed fit to pitch after a throwing session on Friday, but that does not mean he was able to go back in time to find his Cy Young form.  He was so bad at the end of last season (1-10 with a 5.19 ERA in his last 15 appearances) that he was left off San Francisco’s postseason roster during the team’s World Series run.  Zito went 0-3 against the Dodgers last year, getting just five runs of support.  LA slugger Matt Kemp has more hits against Zito (18) than any other pitcher, so look for him to shine and allow the Dodgers faithful to go home happy.

Pick: Dodgers -140

It’s Butler and Connecticut in the 2011 National Championship game and the odds are up.  Connecticut is (-4.5) with a total of 129. The moneyline has the Huskies (-208)

Grandmaster Sports Handicapper Joe Duffy, CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com, the top sports betting site in the world of course sweeps the board in basketball with Connecticut, the game under, and Butler. In the NBA, Memphis made it 4-0.

Here is what professional sports bettors got before the game in basketball from GodsTips.

CBB

Wise Guy…

CONNECTICUT +2.5 Kentucky

UConn is the perfect Adrian Barbeau teams that win big games in the Dance. They are very top heavy with the nation’s best go-to guy Kemba Walker and the newest No. 2 guy Jeremy Lamb.

Now we won’t deny, Kentucky did beat a top-heavy team in Ohio State, though by just two points. However while OSU had inside monster Jared Sullinger and outside shooter William Buford, what Kemba Walker can do is create shots.

Kentucky is outstanding and challenging shots, but Walker is quick and as good as it gets in finding seams. He is an underrated distributor and Lamb’s emergence is huge.

Kentucky was dominated once this year. It was a neutral court. The team was UConn. The Huskies are the best team from the best conference and win outright.

Major…

Connecticut-Kentucky UNDER 140

This is a competitor consensus. If we have a lean one way and one of the few sports services or sources we respect has a big pick on a certain side, we pass along as a competitor consensus.

BUTLER -2.5 Virginia Commonwealth

Look Butler is clearly for real. No team has won more in March with their current crop of talent than Butler, a team in the Final 4 for the second straight time. Everyone forgets this team was nationally ranked all last year. The only thing Cinderella is they are from a non-BCS conference.

VCU is up there with George Mason and Penn and true glass slipper teams as many though VCU shouldn’t be here. Guess what happened to the true Cinderella teams in the Final 4? Both crash and burned in the semis. LSU was the third lowest seed to make the Final 4. They also lost by double-digits in the semis.

Butler is very good at controlling the clock and will take VCU out of their rhythm. History says teams like VCU find out the Final 4 is the great equalizer. It happens again.

NBA

Major…

MEMPHIS -13 Minnesota

With O.J. Mayo stepping up in the absence of Rudy Gay, the Grizz have not missed a beat. They match up well to Minnesota.

The Grizzlies won 102-84 and 104-95 at Target Center in February and 109-89 in Memphis in season’s third game back in October.

Memphis, as much as any team in the NBA, plays so much better at home than on the road. The Grizz are +6.8 points per game at home compared to Minny -9.7 on the road.

Both teams are playing their third game in four nights including playing back-to-back nights.  But Memphis has more depth and the Wolves are playing a brutal stretch in which their previous five games were to Dallas, Oklahoma City, Boston, Chicago, and Miami.

Who is hot and who has the big plays? Here is every sports service pick needed for the Final 4 games Connecticut-Kentucky, VCU-Butler, plus MLB picks, and NBA picks as well. There is even a Women’s NCAA Tournament spread pick.

First from the The Canadian Crew: The VCU vs. Butler total is the best bet of the day without question. Adjustments and matchups and likely scenarios that will play out make this over/under just too good. Also get a standard play lock on Connecticut vs. Kentucky too. Yet another winning month is in full swing! The Best Bet of Final 4, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth total tops the card.

Now to the winningest handicapper ever, GodsTips. The Lord of the Dance owns the Final 4 again. Both side selections are up. The Wise Guy is on UConn and Kentucky side, plus we have the total on that game. Get three Final 4 plays from the winningest handicapper who has ever lived.

Added are two MLB sides, an NBA winner, and even an NCAA women’s basketball winner from a very trusted source at OffshoreInsiders.com

Matt Rivers, who was the winningest handicapper ever—nobody came close—on a large network of sites has an ultra ultra rare losing 2-2 Friday as the big play on Oregon laying four won but did not cover. A tad of rough luck there. A 2-0 sweep on the diamond in my first two baseball plays including the Orioles plus 170 and the White Sox by a million runs. Still feeling super good and ready to inflict more pain on that Crookie.

Three winners today, 400,000* UCONN-Kentucky, 300,000* VCU-Butler and a 200,000* Pirates-Cubs. The numbers speak for themselves and they grow even larger right here and now!

Stevie Vincent has a big card. Forensic sports handicapping says both sides UConn/Kentucky, Butler/VCU rise to the level of premium lock plays and the earlier tipoff is a Level 5. So is a pro basketball game. Get ready to sweep, sweep, sweep again.

Now to Power of 620 sports services behind every selection, the MasterLockLine:

An incredible March put him back into the positive side this year, but he has had 22 winning days overall in March and is 26-6 with all college plays, inside and outside the Dance. March Madness Game of the Year Kentucky over North Carolina won last Sunday. You know it’s legit because you got them all here.  NCAA Tournament Bet of the Year on the Kentucky/Connecticut total

Staff Purchase Play, this is when we pay a major sports service to release a major play before the sports service itself does. Major radio tout advertising on 200 plus radio stations, local and network hit their March Madness Stone Cold Lock of the Year on Butler over Florida last Saturday. You know it’s legit because you got them all here. Stone Cold College Parlay of the Year, both sides VCU/Butler, UConn/Kentucky. They are selling it for $499. You have it for pennies

Service out of the southeast is without any debate the top big play service since summer of 2009 with big plays. Their biggest play is a Deposit Slip in which they average less than two per week. Just the 8^th NBA Deposit Slip all season on Oklahoma City/LA Clippers side

Baseball service out of Detroit became the first service EVER to have three straight MLB seasons in which they won at least 40 units (one unit per bet) in 2006-08. In 2009, they “dropped to +31.7 units” still 13^th in the world. We ride history in 2010. Their Mandated Bets have an unprecedented rate of return of any sports service rated bets in any sport.

Kal Elner is ranked No. 11 all-time in MLB handicapping based on units won. However, he is probably the top early season handicapper ever on baseball as he spends about two weeks at Spring Training and spots who will come out of the gate quickly or slowly.  Two more for Saturday, a side and a total. It’s all at OffshoreInsiders.com

The morning line for the 2011 Final 4, Virginia Commonwealth vs. Butler and Kentucky vs. Connecticut has not seen a lot of movement and are presented below.

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a free pick Saturday on the Houston Astros (+225) at Philadelphia.

Reasoning: I never mind teams that are coming off of horrific losses and that is the case with the Houston Astros after blowing the 4-0 lead very late yesterday. Professionals just seem to bounce back a lot more than they don’t no matter the situation and at this quality take back why not back the visitors from Houston?

Of course Cliff Lee has the upside of any pitcher in the game today, save maybe Roy Halladay, and could twirl a gem against any team and that certainly includes the mediocre at the very best Astros. But there is something right now about Charlie Manual’s offense with Chase Utley out that I do not like. Ryan Howard and the boys did not look very good yesterday at all. They did win in the end thanks to a bunch of key singles but I do not believe this team is locked and loaded. We saw a bunch of ice cold hitting from the Phils last season as they struggled immensely at times. How they wound up winning 97 games or whatever truly was a miracle as they just weren’t that good a lot of the time.

Wandy Rodriguez gets the ball for the Astros and the lefty at times can be awesome. He was not that good in the first half of last season but this kid has high quality stuff and certainly can neutralize Howard, Raul Ibanez and whatever lefty is in the Philadelphia lineup.

If Lee is lights out and just too good then I will tip my cap. But Rodriguez can match him with some zeros of his own and after yesterday’s rough beat and at this big-time take back I am fine with Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn and the Astros today.

Top expert pick on this game: Houston Astros

For more information: An ultra rare losing 2-2 Friday as the big play on Oregon laying four won but did not cover. A tad of rough luck there. A 2-0 sweep on the diamond in my first two baseball plays including the Orioles plus 170 and the White Sox by a million runs. Still feeling super good and ready to inflict more pain on that Crookie.

Three winners today, 400,000* UConn-Kentucky, 300,000* VCU-Butler and a 200,000* Pirates-Cubs. The numbers speak for themselves and they grow even larger right here and now! Click now to purchase

Here is the morning line for the 2011 Final 4

OffshoreInsiders.com presents The Final 4 2011 predictions info is up from a sports handicapping standpoint. It’s Butler vs. Virginia Commonwealth and Kentucky vs. Connecticut. Here are the betting matchups.

Virginia Commonwealth vs. Butler (-2.5) 133.5

Spread betting trends (all records are against the spread): VCU 9-0 is as an underdog, 9-0 in NCAA Tournament, 6-0 nonconference, 5-0 as an underdog.

Butler is 6-0 off straight up win, 15-2 on neutral courts, 21-4 versus an opponent with a winning percentage of .600 or above, 17-5 in NCAA Tournament, 2-15 to teams with a winning record, and 40-16 outside the conference.

Over/under trends: VCU over 10-3 off win, but under 7-3 as an underdog of 0.5-6.5. Butler has gone under 7-2 in NCAA Tournament, over 14-6 neutral site games as a favorite, under 7-3 off win.

Kentucky (-2.5) 140 vs. Connecticut

Spread betting trends (all records are against the spread): Kentucky 7-1 in nonconference games, 8-2 NCAA Tournament games as a favorite, 16-5 to Big East, but 3-7 off straight up win.

UConn is 6-0  neutral site games as an underdog, 9-1 10 non-conference games, 26-9  following a S.U. win, 23-8 as underdogs.

Over/under trends: Kentucky over 5-0 off straight up win.

Top expert pick on today’s card: GodsTips, the Lord of the Dance owns the Final 4 again. Both side selections are up. The Wise Guy is on UConn and Kentucky side, plus we have the total on that game. Get three Final 4 plays from the winningest handicapper who has ever lived. Get the Final 4 winners now

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a free pick Friday is on the Seattle Mariners (+103) White Sox.

Trevor Cahill had a breakout season last year and probably is a legitimate and very good pitcher but to get money with Felix Hernandez is just way too good to pass up.

The A’s are probably the superior team when compared to Ichiro and the Mariners but it’s not as if that is courtesy of their offense. Oakland’s lineup is once again extremely mediocre, even with the addition of Hideki Matsui, and without a doubt could get completely shut down and shutout today by Hernandez. There are still a lot of average journeymen type bats in their order that are behind the eight ball up against Hernandez in this thing.

The Seattle hurler is arguably the best pitcher on the planet right now. If his team supported him at all last season he would have had many more wins than he had and would have been a runaway Cy Young award winner. The guy is just filthy and flat out dominant and no matter how great of a season Cahill is coming off of he is just not on the level of his mound combatant and shouldn’t be today.

Oakland is at home and should have more victories when all is said and done but that wouldn’t be the case if Hernandez was able to pitch all 162 games so being the better team overall is very irrelevant regarding today’s one single game. To not have to lay money with King Felix against pretty much anybody is a semi steal and against the good but nothing more A’s is an absolute must play today.

Top expert pick on this game: Seattle

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Two teams battling for the second seed in the Western Conference playoff race meet on Thursday at the Staples Center, as the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers (53-20) host the Dallas Mavericks (53-21) with just two weeks remaining in the regular season.  The Lakers (-6) have dropped two of the last three meetings with the Mavericks, and both teams still have an outside chance of catching San Antonio for the best record in the league.

The Spurs are mired in a season-high four-game losing streak pending the outcome of their matchup with Boston earlier in the evening.  The Lakers are an NBA-best 15-1 since the All-Star break and have continued to narrow the gap with San Antonio in an effort to seize homecourt advantage when they defend their championship.  Despite the hot streak, LA has failed to cover the spread in four of the last five games with the OVER cashing three times after the total went UNDER in seven of the previous eight.

The team won 96-91 at Dallas to start a seven-game winning streak on March 12 after losing the previous two meetings by an average of seven points.  The Mavs would lose a potential tiebreaker for the second seed with the Lakers, who have the edge as a division winner.

Regardless of what happens, Dallas should finish no worse than third in the West after winning 50 games for the 11^th season in a row.  The Mavericks are riding a five-game winning streak – going 4-1 against the spread – and the UNDER has cashed in five of their past six.  The last three wins are part of a five-game road trip that ends with stops in Oakland and Portland.

Dallas topped the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday 106-100 at Staples behind 24 points from Dirk Nowitzki while J.J. Barea added 22 off the bench.  The Mavs had scored less than 95 points in each of their previous two games, and scoring at least 100 against the Lakers could be the key to deciding which team emerges with a victory.  The winner between the two has totaled 100 points or more in eight of the past 10 meetings with the OVER cashing six times.

LA is averaging nearly 118 points in its last three games after failing to reach the century mark in four of the team’s previous five games.  Of course one of those recent games was a 139-137 win over Phoenix last week in triple overtime, the closest an opponent has come to beating the Lakers outside of their loss at Miami on March 10.

Top expert pick on today’s card is from Stevie Vincent. The Pro Basketball Game of the Century on the Miami Heat was almost too easy. The Great One Stevie Vincent will have baseball in mid-to-late April. While the basketball card is somewhat limited, get the NIT Championship Alabama/Wichita State game side. Click now to purchase