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The division rival Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins are set to renew hostilities on Thursday when they meet at LandShark Stadium. Jamie Moyer will be the starting pitcher for the Phillies on this day. Lefthander Moyer is 8-6 this season with a 5.99 ERA. The Marlins will counter Moyer with Chris Volstad. Righthander Volstad has a 4.44 ERA to go along with a 6-8 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Marlins listed as 125-moneyline favorites versus the Phillies, while the game’s total has not yet been posted. The Phillies defeated Pedro Feliz delivered a grand slam home run for The Marlins defeated Cody Ross drove in three runs for Current streak: Team records: Philadelphia most recently: Florida most recently: A few trends to consider: Next up: |
Brewers-Reds Lines Preview
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The fans at Braden Looper will be the starting pitcher for the Brewers on this day. Righthander Looper is 7-4 this season with a 4.94 ERA. The Reds will counter Looper with Homer Bailey. Righthander Bailey has a 5.16 ERA to go along with a 1-0 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Reds listed as 115-moneyline favorites versus the Brewers, while the game’s total has not yet been posted. The Brewers lost to the Dodgers 7-4 as a -120 favorite on Sunday. The 11 runs scored went OVER the posted over/under total (8). Yovani Gallardo took the loss for The Reds lost to the Mets 9-7 as a +100 underdog on Sunday. The 16 runs scored went OVER the posted over/under total (8). Brandon Phillips drove in a pair of runs for Current streak: Team records: Milwaukee most recently: Cincinnati most recently: A few trends to consider: Next up: |
Mets-Braves Odds Preview
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A winning streak will be on the line for the New York Mets on Thursday when they battle the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. The Mets will pin their hopes on the pitching of lefthander Oliver Perez in this game. Perez has a 2-2 record and a 8.78 ERA this season. Perez’s opponent in this one will be Derek Lowe. The Braves ace righthander has a 4.39 ERA to go along with a 8-7 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Braves listed as 175-moneyline favorites versus the Mets, while the game’s total has not yet been posted. The Mets defeated Gary Sheffield was 2-5 with three RBI for the Mets and Luis Castillo was 3-4 with three runs scored. The Braves lost to Brooks Conrad was 3-5 with a home run and three RBI for Current streak: Team records: New York most recently: Atlanta most recently: A few trends to consider: Next up: |
Mariners-Indians Lines Preview
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A winning streak will be on the line for the Seattle Mariners on Thursday when they battle the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. The Mariners will pin their hopes on the pitching of lefthander Garrett Olson in this game. Olson has a 3-2 record and a 5.00 ERA this season. The Indians will counter Olson with ace Cliff Lee. Lefthander Lee has a 3.47 ERA to go along with a 4-9 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Indians listed as 210-moneyline favorites versus the Mariners, while the game’s total has not yet been posted. The Mariners defeated Franklin Gutierrez was 2-4 with two runs scored for The Indians lost to Jamey Carroll drove in the Indians’ lone run and Tomo Ohka was roughed up for five runs on five hits in 3 2-3 innings. Current streak: Team records: Seattle most recently: Cleveland most recently: A few trends to consider: Next up: |
Cubs-Nationals Lines Preview
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The Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals will both be trying to pick up a win on Thursday when they battle at Righthander Rich Harden will take the mound for the Cubs to start this game. Harden is 5-6 this season with a 5.59 ERA. It’ll be John Lannan toeing the rubber for the Nationals in this contest. Lefthander Lannan is 6-6 with a 3.70 ERA so far this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Cubs listed as 125-moneyline favorites versus the Nationals, while the game’s total has not yet been posted. The Cubs lost to Milton Bradley was 2-3 with an RBI for The Nationals lost to Jordan Zimmermann took the loss for Team records: Chicago most recently: Washington most recently: A few trends to consider: Next up: |
Affliction Betting – Fedor vs Barnett odds and Pick
Fedor odds may be the one special exception in MMA in terms of who or what can excite fans besides the UFC. Fedor Emelianenko is still considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and, while most of us want to see him fight Brock Lesnar, he still has an extremely tough opponent in world No. 2 Josh Barnett on August 1 at Affliction. Let’s break down each fighter.
THE CHAMPION – FEDOR “THE LAST EMPEROR” EMELIANENKO
MMA odds: -500
Record: 30-1
Notable victories: Minotauro Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman, Andrei Arlovsk
STRENGTHS: Too many to list. Fedor is a true mixed martial artist, excelling in multiple disciplines. He’s a monster on the ground, using his sambo and judo not only to submit pretty much anyone he wants, but also to escape dangerous situations. When he wants to use them, his hands are extremely heavy, capable of dropping even the biggest of fighters. He’s also very patient, not afraid to take some punishment if it helps him set up an advantageous position.
WEAKNESSES: Not many that we know of, but his strategy of “not preparing for an opponent and just feeling him out during a fight” could someday come back to bite him if he faces someone with a set game plan.
THE CHALLENGER – JOSH “THE BABYFACED ASSASSIN” BARNETT
MMA odds odds: +300
Record: 24-5
Notable victories: Randy Couture, Minotauro Nogueira, Dan Severn
STRENGTHS: He’s a powerful wrestler who’s very tough to stop once he gains the mount. He can finish opponents with a ground-and pound or submit them, which is his preferred method of victory. Though he’s not a true striker, he has heavy hands and can knock guys out if he catches them flush.
WEAKNESSES: Barnett is not quite a one-dimensional fighter, but he’s not nearly as versatile as Fedor. Emelianenko can match him on the ground and Barnett is nowhere near Fedor’s ability standing up. Most of his losses have come against superior strikers—three of them to Cro Cop.
Daily sports pick: Fedor. He’s the best in the world and, while the savvy Barnett should be his toughest test in a long time, it’s just weak betting management to go against Fedor.
British Open Betting – Top Picks to Consider
British Open betting is days—hours! — away, so we can’t waste time. Time to assess the top picks for the most storied of all the golf majors. The Open Championship’s field is unlike any other in that it attracts a truly international crowd. That makes it harder to handicap too, as we don’t have as much knowledge of the field as we would for a traditional PGA event. Let’s look at the top offshore sportsbook picks this week. Which are legit and which are traps?
Tiger Woods (+185)
Here’s an interesting stat: the last three winners at Turnberry were ranked No. 1 in the world at the time. Does that mean Tiger has this one locked up? I say no. My guess is that that Price, Norman and Watson were probably doing just fine off the tee when they won at Turnberry, and we can’t say the same about Tiger right now. Turnberry punishes inaccurate drives and Tiger has struggled to find the fairway all year, so bettors should be careful. A “bad” finish for him is still probably 10th or better, but I don’t see a victory in the cards.
Sergio Garcia (+2000)
He’s always around the top five at the Open but he’s simply not playing very well this season. There are plenty of other golfers playing much better who offer more value, so it’s poor betting management to pick Sergio this week.
Padraig Harrington (+2200)
Don’t you dare get caught in this trap! Yeah, he won the last two British Opens, but the current Harrington may as well be someone else. He’s missed five straight cuts and has zero top-10s this season. Stay far away from him this week.
Henrik Stenson (+4000)
He has top-10s in three of the last four majors, so you could say he’s due. The icy Stenson also won the World Match Play and the Players Championship, so he’s shown that he can hang with the big boys. He’s a solid pick and he offers nice sportsbook value.
Martin Kaymer (+2800)
You’ll be hard pressed to find a “sexier” pick for the Open than Kaymer. He’s won the last two European Tour events, so he’s probably hotter than any other golfer right now. However, I’m still not crazy about him given his +2800 value. There are some better picks out there that offer you much more at the sportsbook.
Daily sports pick: Henrik Stenson +4000
UFC 100 Betting – The Unknown Fighters
The UFC 100 odds are in their eleventh hour and, while most of us have done our homework and placed our bets, there are still a few names out there that perplex us—the fighters who make us say “Who’s that guy?” Knowing some extra intel on the no-names could make or break your night at the offshore sportsbook, so let’s review a few non-household names.
Who the heck is…
Paulo Thiago?
He’s a Brazilian police officer who took the UFC by storm when he knocked out Josh Koscheck in his debut. Since his UFC 100 betting opponent, Jon Fitch, is Koscheck’s teammate and has a similar skill set, does that mean you should place a bet on massive underdog Thiago (+300) to beat Fitch (-400)? Not necessarily. Almost all of Thiago’s previous victories came via submission. In other words, this Jiu-Jitsu specialist is by no means a knockout artist, so his knockout win may have been a fluke. He was arguably losing the fight before catching Koscheck with a Hail-Mary uppercut. Since Fitch’s chin is so good—even the powerful Georges St-Pierre couldn’t knock him out—don’t bet in your sports predictions on Thiago dropping him. He’s more likely to try and submit Fitch, and the chances of that happening are slim. Fitch hasn’t been submitted since his first career fight seven years ago and he’s a fantastic wrestler. Even though Thiago is undefeated at 11-0, he’s one “no-name” I’d avoid in your UFC 100 picks.
Yoshihiro Akiyama?
Here’s a relative unknown who’s actually a household name overseas. Akiyama, a veteran Japanese kickboxer and Judo fighter, is ranked by MMA Weekly as the No. 10 middleweight in the world. He’s a versatile fighter, capable of big throws, knockouts with his hands or feet, and submissions. His opponent for UFC 100, Alan Belcher, is supposed to be a stepping stone, but Belcher is still a good enough fighter that he’ll test Akiyama. A win over Belcher would legitimize Akiyama’s hopes for UFC success, while a loss would make him look like a bust. Based on scouting reports and sportsbook software predictions, he should win, so I’d go with Akiyama.
Tour de France Betting – Contador, Armstrong Chasing Nocentini
While the UFC 100 fight card will be on the minds of many sportsbook betting players this weekend, you can’t forget about Tour de France betting as cycling’s biggest event heads into its eighth stage on Saturday. The
Brice Feilli won the seventh stage, and the first mountain stage in the competition, while previous leader Fabian Cancellara finished the race just over nine minutes after Feillu to drop out of the top spot. Nocentini picked up the yellow jersey and he leads Contador by six seconds, and Armstrong by eight. Contador was actually two seconds behind Armstron before the stage began, but a late push for the finish line allowed him to leapfrog his teammate. Much ahas been made about whether these two rivals could work together on the same team, and Armstrong didn’t force the issue when Contador broke away, staying just close enough to still be a threat according to gambling software.
The seventh stage is actually the longest on the course this year, while Sunday’s ride is one of the shortest, but it’s all mountains, which shows you who the best conditioned rides are. This is where we expect Contador, Armstrong and the rest of the Astana team to put a gap between them and the Tour de France betting pack.
Braves-Rockies Lines Preview
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The Atlanta Braves and the Colorado Rockies will both be trying to pick up a win on Friday when they battle at Coors Field.
Ace righthander
Starting this game for the
Odds aren’t yet posted for this game, so check back later for the opening line and total.
The
Current streak:
Team records:
Colorado: 46-39 SU Atlanta most recently:
When playing on Friday are 4-6 Before playing Colorado are 5-5 After playing Colorado are 7-3 After a loss are 4-6 Colorado most recently: A few trends to consider:
Atlanta is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games when playing Colorado Atlanta is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games on the road Atlanta is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games Atlanta is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Colorado Colorado is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Atlanta Colorado is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games at home Colorado is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games Colorado is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games when playing Atlanta Next up:
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