Angels try to move closer to AL West crown in opener with Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

09/17/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The AL West-leading LA Angels of Anaheim have been inconsistent as of late and will try to regroup against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the first of three straight games tonight from Angel Stadium.

The Angels have a comfortable 8 1/2-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the division but have dropped three of four and five of the last eight games. In Sunday's 9-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field, Juan Rivera hit a two-run homer and Vladimir Guerrero also went deep and scored twice in a losing effort.

Mike Napoli and Robb Quinlan added two hits and an RBI each, while starting pitcher Joe Saunders gave up only one run in six innings. Dustin Moseley permitted a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to absorb the loss.

The Angels, though, did reduce their magic number for clinching the division to six with Seattle's loss to Tampa Bay.

Toeing the rubber for the Angels this evening will be Kelvim Escobar, who is 17-7 with a 3.25 ERA in 28 starts this season. Escobar has won back-to-back starts and is 6-1 in his previous seven trips to the hill. On September 12 at Baltimore, Escobar earned the win despite allowing six runs over 5 1/3 frames of an 18-6 victory at Camden Yards.

The right-handed Venezuelan is 6-7 with a 5.63 ERA in 34 career games (14 starts) against Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay won the last two meetings of a three-game set with Seattle after a four-game losing streak. In Sunday's 9-2 win the series finale, starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine threw seven strong innings for the win and allowed one run on six hits with eight strikeouts. Delmon Young drove in four runs and Carl Crawford added two RBI for Tampa Bay.

The Devil Rays will send Edwin Jackson to the hill on Monday and he is 4-14 with a 5.94 ERA in 29 games (28 starts) this season. He is winless over his last four trips to the mound (0-2) and was beaten by Boston the last time out on September 12, yielding three runs over six innings.

Jackson, a right-hander, is 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA in five career games (two starts) against the Angels. Jackson lost his only start against the Angels this season in a 9-1 decision on April 25, surrendering six runs -- three earned -- over six innings of work.

Los Angeles is 3-2 against Tampa Bay this season, with a 2-0 record at home. The Angels are 10-4 in the last 14 meetings with the D-Rays.

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Why Sports Betting is so much fun?

Betting Sports

The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)

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Points (or Runs) Scored

Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.

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Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

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Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

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