USA dominates Chinese Taipei at World Junior Baseball Championship

Baseball Betting Lines

07/27/2010 - Thunder Bay, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For a team expecting to play right through the end of the tournament, the United States is doing a good job of preserving energy.

Phillip Pfeifer (1-0) dominated a hot-hitting Chinese Taipei squad over seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball as Team USA cruised to a 10-0 victory on Monday night at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

It was the second straight game the U.S. has won by mercy, after blanking the Italians 10-0 in an abbreviated seven innings in accordance with International Baseball Federation rules.

After opening the tournament with a 4-2 win over Australia, the United States (3-0) appears to be hitting its stride which doesn't bode well for the other 11 countries participating in the 18-and-under event featuring some of the best young baseball talent in the world.

"No matter what team, we're going to want to win and win bad, and they're going to want to beat us," said the 18-year-old Pfeifer.

The 6'0" lefty, who went 16-0 this year en route to a third straight high school state championship with Farragut, was unhittable against a Chinese Taipei team that entered the game with a tournament-best .418 average.

"Our pitching guy told us to throw inside and once they adjusted to that, we started moving off the plate and using more off-speed to throw them off balance," said the phenom from Knoxville, Tenn.

"But when they hit me hard, my guys were there to make plays, that's what it came down to."

The truth is, he wasn't hit hard at all.

Pfeifer was perfect through four innings, utilizing a deceptive changeup and devastating curveball to freeze hitters before finishing with eight strikeouts in front of a near-sellout crowd featuring several major league scouts.

His team scored seven runs in the third inning off Chinese Taipei pitcher Chung Weng (0-1), who proved to be no match for a U.S. junior team loaded with players destined for the big leagues.

"We faced a good pitcher that left some balls up and we were able to take advantage of that," said U.S. hitting coach and former major leaguer Brian McRae.

"I think what we were able to do offensively helped [Pfeifer] because he was able to challenge the hitters and go right at them."

Weng lasted just 2 1-3 innings, giving up six hits and five runs with one strikeout, a walk and a hit batter.

After second baseman and Cleveland Indians' third round draft pick Tony Wolters doubled down the line to score catcher Elvin Soto, Francisco Lindor connected on the Americans' first home run of the tournament, hitting a rocket off the pole in left to give his team a 3-0 lead they never looked back on.

Another five straight hits, including a pair of two-run doubles from Brian Ragira (Texas Rangers, 30th round) and Christian Lopes, and the U.S. found themselves out in front 7-0 after three before handing Chinese Taipei its first loss of the tournament.

Several Americans had multi-hit games, including first baseman Blake Swihart (2-for-3 with two RBI and a homer) and Lindor, who also went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and a stolen base.

Lindor is now 5-for-10 for the tournament, leading the team with five runs, four RBI and nine total bases.

"It felt pretty good to jump out on the pitcher," said the talented shortstop. "In the first game we didn't hit like we usually do but that's part of baseball, not every game we're going to get a lot of hits.

"I wasn't really looking for it [the home run]. In my mind I was thinking hit a line drive to the opposite side. Hopefully we keep hitting throughout the tournament like we're hitting now."

McRae said he thought his hitters were pressing a little in their first game with the Aussies but now that they're finding their groove, he thinks the sky is the limit for a junior national team that hasn't won a world title since 1999.

"I liked the fact they made adjustments and they were able to go gap to gap and stay within themselves and not try and do too much," he said. "Offensively, we know that if we can score some runs early that eases the pressure on our pitching staff.

"Our pitching is pretty damn good."

The U.S. continues its run towards the medal round on Tuesday afternoon when they take on Venezuela in Pool A action.

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Football Betting: Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards

Oddsmakers have released the odds for the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry has been made the opening favorite.

Bet on NFL Football

Seattle took Curry with the fourth overall pick in April's NFL draft and plan on inserting him into its starting lineup right away. The Hawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson in the offseason, so Curry is expected to have a significant role in Seattle's defense next year and that's one of the primary reasons he is the favorite to win the NFL ROY Award.

Oddsmakers from online sportsbook MySportsbook.com have made Curry a 5/1 favorite to win this year's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Given that he was the best defensive prospect in this year's draft and how he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays in '09, Curry offers a ton of value at 5/1.

Another thing working for Curry is the position he plays. A linebacker has won the defensive ROY award six straight times and eight of the last nine years. Jerod Mayo, Patrick Willis, DeMeco Ryans, Shawne Merriman, Jonathan Vilma, Terrell Suggs, Kendrell Bell and Brian Urlacher were the most recent linebackers to take home the award.

Following Curry at 5/1 are Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) at 7/1, James Laurinaitas (Rams) at 8/1, Brian Orakpo (Redskins) at 10/1, Rey Maualuga (Bengals) at 10/1 and Jerry Peria (Falcons) at 10/1.

All the players mentioned above are expected to start for their respective teams, but Jackson and Peria are going to have a tough time being recognized on a national level given they're both defensive linemen. D-linemen rarely put up the numbers that it takes to win an individual award like the ROY.

A couple of players with some value are Clay Matthews (Packers) at 12/1 and Larry English (Chargers) at 15/1. Matthews is expected to start at outside linebacker in Green Bay's new 3-4 defense and could rack up a ton of tackles. English, who was an impressive player at Northern Illinois, is expected to be a situational pass rusher for the Chargers and could rack up a ton of sacks.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, see below. And for complete odds for the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, click the link provided.

2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Ayers (DEN) 12/1

Ron Brace (NE) 25/1

Everette Brown (CAR) 16/1

Darius Butler (NE) 40/1

Patrick Chung (NE) 30/1

Aaron Curry (SEA) 5/1

Brian Cushing (HOU) 12/1

Vontae Davis (MIA) 30/1

Louis Delmas (DET) 30/1

Larry English (SD) 15/1

Evander Hood (PIT) 25/1

Tyson Jackson (KC) 7/1

Malcolm Jenkins (NO) 25/1

Paul Kruger (BAL) 50/1

James Laurinaitas (STL) 8/1

Sen'Derrick Marks (TEN) 20/1

Clay Matthews (GB) 12/1

Aaron Maybin (BUF) 15/1

Rey Maualuga (CIN) 10/1

Roy Miller (TB) 20/1

Michael Mitchell (OAK) 45/1

Fili Moala (IND) 30/1

Brian Orakpo (WAS) 10/1

Jerry Peria (ATL) 10/1

B J Raji (GB) 7/1

Clint Sintim (NYG) 35/1

Alphonso Smith (DEN) 40/1

David Verkune (CLE) 20/1

Jason Williams (DAL) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 6/1

NFL football gambling

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.