Angels play the first of three in Seattle

Baseball Betting Lines

06/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of American League West rivals get together tonight at Seattle's Safeco Field, where the division-leading LA Angels of Anaheim begin a six-game road trip with the first of three straight meetings with the last-place Mariners.

The Angels come in with a comfortable 3 1/2-game advantage on second-place Oakland in the West standings and have won 10 of their last 15 games following Sunday's 4-3 comeback victory over Toronto.

Anaheim trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, but drew even when Blue Jays closer hit Howie Kendrick with a pitch as the bases were loaded. Maicer Izturis followed with a single to right field to plate Casey Kotchman with the winning run.

Izturis finished 2-for-4 for the Angels, who took the final two tests of a three-game series with Toronto, while Sean Rodriguez socked a two-run homer in the win.

Jose Arrendondo (2-0) received the win after tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Angels starter Jon Garland worked the first five frames and gave up three runs while issuing four walks.

The disappointing Mariners own the AL's worst record at 21-36 and are already 12 1/2 games behind Anaheim in the standings. Seattle has gone 3-3 thus far on a nine-game homestand and just lost two of three matchups with Detroit over the weekend.

In Sunday's rubber match of a three-game series with the Tigers, Detroit erupted for four runs in the top of the ninth inning en route to a 7-5 victory.

J.J. Putz (2-3) entered for the Mariners with the contest tied at 3-3 in the ninth and was rocked for four runs on four hits while recording just two outs to suffer the loss.

Raul Ibanez cut Seattle's deficit in half with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning and finished 3-for-5 with three RBI. Adrian Beltre finished with two hits, including a solo home run, for the Mariners, who pounded out 15 hits as a team but stranded 12 baserunners.

Former Angel Jarrod Washburn will attempt to get the Mariners back on track in this evening's opener. The veteran lefty is coming off a solid six-inning effort at Yankee Stadium on May 25 in which he held New York to two runs and four hits despite not factoring in the decision.

Washburn rebounded from a horrid start at Detroit four days earlier, when he was rocked for nine runs and 12 hits over just 2 1/3 frames of a 9-4 loss.

The 33-year-old was drafted by the Angels organization in 1995 and spent his first eight major league seasons with Anaheim. Since joining the Mariners in 2006, Washburn is 4-3 with a 4.47 earned run average.

The Angels counter with Ervin Santana, who seeks to improve on an already- strong 7-2 record and 3.09 ERA in his 11 starts this season.

Santana tossed a complete-game gem in Tuesday's 3-2 triumph over Detroit, with the right-hander holding the Tigers to three hits and striking out seven without a walk.

The 25-year-old is 4-2 with a 4.93 ERA over eight previous starts against Seattle and beat the Mariners in Anaheim on April 19. Santana delivered eight outstanding innings in that game and yielded just one run on three hits while fanning eight.

However, Santana has allowed 15 runs and three homers in 13 2/3 innings during his three lifetime starts at Safeco Field.

These clubs have split six prior meetings this season, with Seattle winning two of three encounters with the Angels at home from April 11-13. The Angels took 13 of 19 contests from the Mariners last season and posted a 6-3 mark at Safeco in 2007.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.