05/09/2008 - Seattle, WA (Baseball Betting) - Seattle Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson has been suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and aggressive actions in the fourth inning of Thursday's game against the Texas Rangers at Safeco Field.
With two outs in the inning, Rangers pitcher Keith Gabbard came up and in with a fastball that caused Sexson to charge the mound and throw his helmet at the Texas hurler. Both benches cleared, but no punches were thrown.
Seattle starter Felix Hernandez had drilled Ian Kinsler, who homered off him earlier, with a fastball in the previous frame.
Hernandez and Texas' Gerald Laird and Sidney Ponson have each been fined an undisclosed amount for their involvement in the incident.
Sexson has elected to appeal the suspension and will be available for Friday's game against Chicago.
<< U.S. women to play Norway, Sweden in Europe
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States womens national team, ranked
No. 1 in the world by FIFA, will travel to Europe for exhibition games against
Norway and Sweden this summer.
The U.S., which is 12-0-1 this year, plays Norway on
<< Federer falls; Djokovic, Roddick reach Rome semis
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 superstar Roger Federer
suffered a quarterfinal setback Friday at the hands of gritty Czech Radek
Stepanek at the $3.5 million Italian Masters. Meanwhile, Australian Open
champion Novak Djo
<< City in line for UEFA Cup spot
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City could secure a surprise
route into European football next season after UEFA revealed England have
finished top of the fair play standings.
One Premier League club will now be han
<< Bayern's Gorlitz will remain on loan to Karlsruher
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich defender Andreas Gorlitz will
remain on loan with Karlsruher next season, the clubs announced Friday.
Gorlitz, 26, went out on loan to promoted Karlsruher this season. The deal was
extended un
Russia, Finland win at Worlds >>
Halifax, Nova Scotia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the first shootout of the
tournament, Sergei Mozyakin and Alexei Morozov each scored in the shootout to
help Russia to a 4-3 win over Belarus at the 2008 World Hockey Championships.
Russi
Padres release veteran OF Edmonds >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres released struggling
outfielder Jim Edmonds on Friday.
The 37-year-old Edmonds, who was acquired in a trade with the St. Louis
Cardinals in December, was batting just .178 wit
Rangers trade OF Mench to Toronto >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers traded outfielder Kevin
Mench to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday for cash considerations.
Mench, who in 2006 became one of just five players in MLB history to hit a
home run in sev
Murphy named AL's top rookie for April >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder David Murphy was
named the American League Rookie of the Month for April.
In 27 games last month, the 26-year-old Murphy batted .277 with two home runs
and 14 runs batted in.
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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