Harang targets back-to-back wins in finale with Astros

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-hander Aaron Harang will try to win consecutive starts for the first time this season tonight when the Cincinnati Reds close out a three-game midweek series with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Harang, a 16-game winner in each of the last two seasons, has plummeted through a disappointing and injury plagued 2008, recently going six straight starts without a victory as his record plunged to 3-13.

He turned it around at least briefly in his last outing, however blanking the Colorado Rockies over six innings of the Reds' 8-5 triumph at Coors Field on Aug. 22.

The second-to-last defeat of the aforementioned skid came against the Astros, when Harang dropped a 13-4 decision after allowing nine hits and eight runs in just four innings of an Aug. 10 game in Cincinnati.

He is 8-6 with a complete game and a 4.49 earned run average in 18 lifetime starts against Houston.

For the Astros, 30-year-old right-hander Brandon Backe can remain unbeaten for his career against the Reds.

He's 3-0 in nine games - five starts - against Cincinnati, posting a 3.16 ERA ovr 31 1/3 innings.

Backe also picked up a win in his last start, scattering five hits and three runs in seven innings of an 8-3 downing of the New York Mets on Aug. 23 at Shea Stadium.

The Galveston, Texas native is an inconsistent 3-4 with three no-decisions over his last 10 starts and 2-2 over his last four, including losses to the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks in which he was raked for 18 hits and 22 runs in nine innings.

In the two wins, he's given up just nine hits and four runs in 14 innings.

On Wednesday, Roy Oswalt continued his mastery of the Reds with seven strong innings to lead the Astros to a 4-1 win.

Oswalt (12-9) allowed one run on five hits with three strikeouts for the Astros, who evened this three-game series and in the process snapped a two- game skid.

Oswalt improved to an incredible 22-1 in his career against the Reds, including a 3-0 mark this season.

Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton both hit a two-run homer and Lance Berkman registered three hits with a run scored in the win.

Jeff Keppinger scored the only run for the Reds, who have dropped three of their last four games.

Josh Fogg (2-7) suffered the loss despite a solid outing in which he allowed two runs on six hits over six innings.

The Astros swept a four-game series in Cincinnati from August 7-10 and have won nine of the 11 matchups between the teams so far this season. Houston is 20-6 against the Reds since the start of the 2007 campaign.

Wmajorleaguebaseball Baseball Betting News

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

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)

But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)

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.

The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.

Future Bets

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.

The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.

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.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.