Phils rest hopes on Halladay in finale vs. Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

06/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia's honeymoon with ace Roy Halladay has certainly reached its end with the way the former Cy Young award winner has pitched lately. Halladay will try to regain his solid form today in the finale of a three-game series versus the Minnesota Twins at Citizens Bank Park.

Halladay was 6-1 with a 1.45 earned run average through his first seven starts as a Phillie, but reality has struck the bearded right-hander. He is 2-4 with a 3.35 earned run average in seven starts since and has dropped back-to-back trips to the mound. In Tuesday's 8-3 loss to CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees, he was reached for six runs and eight hits in six frames.

The former first-round draft pick of Toronto and 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner hopes to move two games over the .500 mark at home when he makes his 15th start. Halladay, who is 8-5 with a 2.36 ERA in 14 outings, owns a 4-3 record in seven starts in south Philly this season.

The Phillies hope Halladay can erase the memories of Saturday's gut-wrenching loss in extra innings. They blew a 9-4 lead and gave up five runs in the top of the ninth before losing, 13-10, in 11 innings. Danys Baez allowed three runs in an inning of work to suffer the loss, while Cole Hamels was in line for the win before recording a no-decision. Hamels allowed four runs -- three earned -- in seven innings.

Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Wilson Valdez and Ross Gload all homered in defeat, while Chase Utley finished 3-for-5 with three RBI for the Phillies, who had a three-game winning streak stopped and are 4 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the NL East lead.

"This was tough, you know. We've been there before and we've always come back," offered Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "Sometimes we get beat big, sometimes we lose leads, but we've always played hard."

Delmon Young's infield single in the top of the 11th broke the tie and Matt Tolbert followed with a two-run double for the Twins, who ended a two-game slide and won for the third time in five tries. Justin Morneau had two hits, including a homer, three RBI and three runs scored, while Joe Mauer, Drew Butera and Jim Thome all went deep in the victory.

"We just talked about playing nine innings. This ballpark loves to see that and anything can happen," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "The ball flies out of here pretty good. We just kept plugging away and keep going, keep grinding it out and see what happens."

Kevin Slowey was in line for the loss until the offense saved him, but he was reached for seven runs and seven hits in only 1 2/3 innings. Jon Rauch collected the win with two solid innings of relief.

The Twins are now 1 1/2 games ahead of Detroit for the American League Central lead and will also visit the Brewers and Mets on their current trip.

Carl Pavano has won consecutive starts and will take on the Phillies Sunday afternoon. Pavano is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA in his last four trips to the mound and is coming off Tuesday's 9-3 victory versus Colorado in which he held the Rockies to three runs and five hits in seven innings of work.

Pavano, who has pitched no less than seven innings in each of his previous five starts, will try to even his road record this afternoon. In five starts on foreign soil, Pavano is 2-3 with a 4.09 ERA.

The right-hander and former Florida Marlin has plenty of experience against the Phillies, going 5-7 with a 4.86 ERA in 20 career starts.

The Phillies and Twins are meeting for the first time since 2004, when Philadelphia won two of three matchups at the Metrodome. Minnesota is 138-101 all-time against the National League, while the Phils are 101-127 in interleague action.

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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.