Twins try to gain ground in Central in opener with Tigers
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins have an opportunity to gain some ground on the division-leading Detroit Tigers when the American League Central rivals begin a key three-game series tonight at the Metrodome.
The Twins presently trail the first-place Tigers by three games in the standings, with the hard-charging Chicago White Sox a half-game in front of Minnesota for second.
Minnesota will be entering this evening's clash with some momentum after taking the final two tests of a three-game series at Kansas City earlier this week. In Wednesday's rubber match, Glen Perkins threw seven effective innings and Michael Cuddyer homered and knocked in two runs to lead the way in a 5-1 triumph over the Royals.
Perkins (4-4) scattered 10 hits and allowed just one run to help the Twins to their fifth victory in their past seven games. The club completed a nine-game road trip with a 6-3 record.
"We're starting to play a little better," first baseman Justin Morneau told the team's official site afterward. "We could still hit better with runners in scoring position, but we're winning ballgames. We're finding a way to get it done, and a lot of that has to do with the pitching, which has been great on this road trip."
Morneau left Wednesday's contest in the seventh inning with a sore left groin but is expected to be in the lineup tonight. Shortstop Nick Punto, who was also removed in the seventh due to tightness in his lower back, is likely to be available as well.
Joe Mauer went 3-for-3 with an RBI single in Wednesday's win to raise his major league-leading average to .392. The All-Star catcher is batting a scorching .458 with nine home runs and 26 RBI in just 24 games at the Metrodome this season.
Tonight's matchup begins a nine-game homestand for Minnesota, whose 24-15 record at the Metrodome ranks among the best home marks in baseball. The team also gets to send out one of baseball's top winners in 2009 to the mound for this series opener, with Kevin Slowey ready to take aim at his 11th victory of the season.
Slowey carries an impressive 10-3 record into this evening's game, but two of those losses have come in his last four starts. The right-hander matched his shortest outing of the year in Sunday's 5-3 loss at St. Louis, where he was tagged for five runs and served up a pair of homers before being yanked after three innings.
A return home should benefit the 25-year-old, since he's 8-0 in nine Metrodome starts this season and allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last five appearances at his home park. One of those starts came against the Tigers on May 12, with Slowey firing six innings of one-run ball in a 6-2 win.
In four career encounters with Detroit, Slowey is 3-0 with a 4.57 earned run average.
The Tigers resume a nine-game road trip tonight and haven't fared too well thus far on the trek. After dropping two of three to the Houston Astros last weekend, Detroit only managed one win in its recent three-game set with the AL West cellar-dwelling Oakland Athletics.
Detroit's bats were stymied by the A's Dallas Braden in Wednesday's 5-1 defeat, with the left-hander limiting the Tigers to a run and five hits over the first seven innings.
"He went in and out, changed speeds," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland of Braden. "He pitched very well."
The Tigers were without third baseman Brandon Inge, the team's leader in RBI (52) and co-leader in home runs (18). The converted catcher sat out because of a sore left knee, but is expected to play tonight.
Detroit starter Justin Verlander (8-4) permitted four runs on a pair of homers in his six-inning stint to suffer the loss.
Rookie Luke French gets an audition for the fifth spot in the Tigers rotation in tonight's test. The young left-hander, an eighth-round selection by Detroit in the 2004 draft, earned a shot by going 4-4 with a 2.98 ERA in 13 starts for Triple-A Toledo.
French did appear in two games as a reliever for Detroit in mid-May and tossed three scoreless innings. The 23-year-old has been sharp lately for the Mud Hens, having surrendered just four runs and racking up 26 strikeouts in 23 innings over his past three starts.
Dontrelle Willis had been serving as the Tigers' fifth starter before being placed on the disabled list last month to work out a lingering anxiety disorder. He was then replaced by Alfredo Figaro, who was bombed for eight runs (7 earned) in six innings of a loss at Houston on Sunday.
The Twins swept a three-game series from Detroit at the Metrodome between May 12-14 and is 4-1 against the Tigers this season. Minnesota has also taken 10 of the past 14 overall meetings between the divisional foes.
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2007 NFL Football Betting Preview
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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