07/04/2008 - Seattle, WA (Baseball Betting) - Jamie Burke finished 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, as the Seattle Mariners downed the Detroit Tigers, 4-1, in the second of a four-game set at Safeco Field.
Raul Ibanez clubbed a solo home run and Jose Lopez added a two-run double for Seattle, which has won six of its last eight games.
Erik Bedard (6-4) went just five innings and allowed one run on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks, but still came away with the victory. Sean Green scattered two hits over 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Brandon Morrow recorded the final four outs to earn his sixth save.
"He (Bedard) fell behind a couple times and I think that might have tired him out a little bit but he made the pitches when he needed to and that's what was important," Burke said.
Miguel Cabrera homered for the Tigers, who have dropped three of their last four on the heels of a six-game win streak. Clete Thomas was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Kenny Rogers (6-6) gave up four runs on six hits in 7 2/3 innings to absorb the loss for Detroit.
"He (Rogers) pitched tremendous, we didn't do much offensively, and I left him in too long," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "Really by design, I just said I thought he pitched well enough to be out there and have a chance and I left him in too long."
Cabrera took Bedard deep to lead off the second, hooking an 0-1 fastball just inside the left-field foul pole.
Seattle evened the score in the bottom of the third, as Burke led off the frame with a double, moved to third on Willie Bloomquist's single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Yuniesky Betancourt.
The top of the fourth proved troublesome for Bedard, who walked the bases loaded. But, the lefty fanned Ryan Raburn to end the threat.
The Mariners then pulled ahead in the bottom half on Ibanez's one-out bomb to right.
Seattle added two insurance runs in the eighth. Burke stroked a lead-off single to snap a string of 10 in a row retired by Rogers. Bloomquist then bunted the runner into scoring position and, after Betancourt fouled out to the catcher, Rogers nailed Ichiro Suzuki in the back. A two-run double by Lopez extended the Mariners lead to 4-1.
Game Notes
Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez was ejected in the ninth inning by home plate umpire Brian Knight for arguing. He went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to nine games...The Tigers left eight men on base, while Seattle stranded three...Detroit has won six of eight from the Mariners this season...Detroit's Armando Galarraga (7-2) and Seattle's R.A. Dickey (2-4) are scheduled to start on Saturday.
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The Flames acquired the left winger
Is 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.
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