Tigers, White Sox open five-game set in Windy City

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams will get a very good look at each other over the next couple of days, as the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox begin a rare five-game series tonight at U.S. Cellular Field.

Thanks to a rain out back on April 26, the two teams added an extra game to this original four-game series, as the clubs will play a double-header on Tuesday.

However, Detroit and Chicago will first get reacquainted with one game tonight.

Andrew Miller will start for the Tigers and has alternated wins and losses over his last seven outings. That includes a win over Minnesota on Wednesday, as Miller improved to 5-3 on the season with a 3.18 earned run average after tossing five innings of one-run ball with four hits, four walks and five strikeouts.

The left-hander faced the White Sox once last season in relief, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings in a Detroit loss on September 19.

The first-place Tigers come into this set on a sour note after dropping two of three to the lowly Kansas City Royals after dropping the rubber match, 5-2, on Sunday.

Nate Robertson (6-7) was battered for 11 hits and five runs -- four earned -- with five strikeouts and one walk over six-plus innings.

Craig Monroe homered in the loss, while Magglio Ordonez had an RBI double for the Tigers, who begin an 11-game road trip tonight and lead Cleveland by just one game for the top spot in the American League Central.

The White Sox, meanwhile, won the opener of their four-game set with Boston on Thursday, but then dropped the next three games.

On Sunday, Josh Fields had two hits and a pair of RBI in the club's 8-5 loss. Juan Uribe had three hits, while Rob Mackowiak, Alex Cintron and Jim Thome knocked in a run apiece.

Chicago starter Jon Garland (7-7) was charged with six runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings, fanning three but walking five in the loss.

Mark Buehrle starts for the White Sox tonight. The left-hander is 3-1 over his last five starts and has pitched particularly well over his last three outings, winning twice while throwing to a 1.21 ERA.

He was last in action on Wednesday when he allowed one runs on 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings in a win over Cleveland. The victory improved Buehrle to 7-5 on the year with a 2.91 ERA.

The 28-year-old has faced Detroit 21 times in his career (20 starts) and is a solid 11-7 against them with a 2.92 ERA and four complete games that includes a pair of shutouts.

Chicago and Detroit have split four games so far this season, with the Tigers winning the lone meeting at U.S. Cellular Field on April 25. The White Sox won 12 of the 19 meetings last year.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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