Pirates, Brewers renew rivalry in Steel City

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming off perhaps their most complete victory of the season. They'll need that momentum given their struggles versus the Milwaukee Brewers this season.

The Pirates will try to snap a four-game skid to the Brewers and beat the club for just the fourth time in 12 meetings this season in the opener of a four- game series tonight at PNC Park.

Milwaukee's season looked to be in good shape given how it performed versus Pittsburgh earlier this season. The Brewers won their first four games versus the Pirates -- all in April -- by a 53-4 margin before losing three in a row to the Buccos. However, the Brewers have countered with another four-game win streak over Pittsburgh, sweeping a three-game set in Milwaukee from July 9-11 in the most recent meeting.

The Pirates, who have lost four of five at home to the Brew Crew this season, seem to be putting things together though after a seven-game overall slide. They outscored the Astros, 21-6, in taking the final two contests of a three- game weekend series, winning Sunday's finale 9-0 behind a season-high 19 hits and a three-hit shutout by starter Paul Maholm.

Maholm did not permit a runner past first base, allowing just three singles while notching the second shutout of his career.

"Everything was good. I threw one slider all day," commented Maholm about his outing during which he retired the side in order five times. "I mixed speeds with the curveball and the sinker. I threw a few changeups. They were aggressive, so I kept the ball down and let them beat it into the ground."

Ronny Cedeno had four hits, including three doubles, and scored twice, Ryan Doumit had a trio of hits and Garrett Jones hit a two-run homer, the Pirates' first with a man on base since June 8 that ended a streak of 1,097 straight at-bats. That was the longest such run since the Astros in 1984.

The Pirates won for the seventh time in their last nine home games, but did see center fielder Andrew McCutchen suffer a sprained right shoulder after making a diving catch in the eighth inning that has him day-to-day.

Right-hander Jeff Karstens will be looking tonight to avenge a loss to the Brewers in his last outing, a July 10 loss in which he gave up four runs on five hits and a career-high six walks. He also fanned five, but gave up back- to-back homers to Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the five-inning start.

The 27-year-old fell to 2-4 with a 4.87 earned run average on the season and 0-2 with a 4.01 ERA in eight career games versus Milwaukee, five of those starts.

Braun and Fielder both contributed at the plate on Sunday versus Atlanta, but Milwaukee still dropped an 11-6 decision. Fielder hit his 22nd homer of the season -- a solo blast -- while Braun had three hits and drove in a run.

Rickie Weeks added a pair of home runs, giving him a career-high 17 on the season which is also a Brewers single-season record by a second baseman. However, starter Manny Parra allowed 10 runs -- five in the third inning -- over 5 1/3 frames to suffer the loss.

Milwaukee had won five of six coming in.

"We didn't get the job done but I thought we played good baseball. Sometimes it goes that way, but we have something to build off of. We got another great team over there and we split [the four-game series] with them," Weeks said.

With Doug Davis on the disabled list due to left elbow tendinitis, 31-year-old Chris Capuano will get another chance to end his franchise-record 13-decision losing streak that dates back to the 2007 season.

Capuano pitched for the first time since that season on June 3 after returning from dual Tommy John surgeries and the left-hander made the start versus the Marlins. However, he took the loss after giving up three runs over 3 2/3 innings and has since made seven relief outings without a decision.

Capuano, who hasn't won since May 7, 2007, is pitching to a 4.35 ERA this year and recorded two outs while working around a hit versus the Pirates on July 9. In 12 career meetings versus the club, including 11 starts, he is 2-6 with a 6.34 ERA.

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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.