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Nadal filets Fish to reach first U.S. Open semifinalTennis Betting Lines09/04/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal fell behind early in his late-night match Wednesday, but then dominated American Mardy Fish to reach his first semifinal at the U.S. Open. The top-ranked Spaniard won 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 with the match ending after 2 a.m. "This court was always very difficult for me, but I'm very happy," said Nadal, who was put to the test early, but pulled through in his quest for a third Grand Slam title this year after triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon. In fact, Nadal has now reached the semifinals at all four Grand Slams this year. Ahead for Nadal will be another man in unchartered waters - sixth seed Andy Murray of Great Britain. He reached the semifinals with a tough four-set victory over 17th seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Murray secured his first-ever spot in a Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 7-5 victory in a match that took nearly four hours to complete on Day 10 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Fish, who had 14 aces to just three for Nadal, broke serve at the start of the match and carried that lead throughout the first set. The tide turned in the second though, and in the third Nadal broke to go up 4-3. Fish, who hit a forehand into the net to end the set, was his own worst enemy. He committed 53 unforced errors to just 19 for Nadal. Nadal broke serve to go up 2-1 in the fourth set, moving Fish to smash his racket in frustration during the changeover. Fish had several long returns in that final set, finally ending the match with another one over the end line. Still, Nadal gave compliments to Fish for his effort. "Mardy played unbelievable in the first set, aggressive," said Nadal. "He was serving very well." Murray fired nine aces and overcame 61 unforced errors, but came through when it counted to stop a 23-match winning streak for the 19-year-old del Potro. That included titles in his last four events. Murray held serve to go ahead 6-5 and then won the first two points of the 12th game of the final set. Del Potro fired a forehand winner, but then returned a ball into the net. Del Potro saved one match point, but a wide return sent Murray into the semis. "Like I said in all my other matches, I don't care what happens throughout the course of the match as long as I win," said Murray. "I played the big points great. In the first two sets I played really well in the tiebreaks." Nadal has the upperhand going into the semifinals with a 5-0 match record against Murray. That includes three wins this year, all in straight sets, including a quarterfinal match at Wimbledon. The other quarterfinal matches will be played here on Thursday, with second- seeded, former No. 1 and reigning four-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer taking on upstart Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and third-seeded Novak Djokovic battling eighth-seeded American Andy Roddick. Djokovic is the reigning Aussie Open champ and was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to the 12-time major titlist Federer, while Roddick is a former world No. 1 who titled here back in 2003.
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Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angel Berroa and Blake DeWitt hit back- to-back home runs in the fourth and the Los Angeles Dodgers downed the San Diego Padres, 6-4, to earn a three-game sweep at Chavez Ravine. Casey Blake also
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Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens have signed cornerback Evan Oglesby and waived cornerback Anwar Phillips. Oglesby became available on Wednesday after being released by the Dallas Cowboys. This will
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Betting FootballNFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL? I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants. Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said. There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans. Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal. For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though. A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup. The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games. Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff. So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action. Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns. “I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said. Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season. “Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said. It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties. Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples. The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left. “The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits. “These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.” Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough. The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday. “Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.” Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach? “It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.” Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later. While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better. For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory. 1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season. 2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped. How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number. Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules. Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically. How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games). Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition. Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
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