Sabathia on mound as Yankees finish first homestand at new stadium

Baseball Betting Lines

04/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-ever homestand at the new Yankee Stadium comes to a close with this afternoon's finale of an abbreviated two-game series between the Bronx Bombers and the Oakland Athletics.

After splitting a four-game set with Cleveland to christen their extravagant new ballpark, the Yankees moved over .500 on the residency by coming through with a 5-3 victory over Oakland last night. The win was the eighth in 12 games for New York since starting the season with a pair of losses in Baltimore.

Andy Pettitte (2-0) shined in his regular-season debut at this version of Yankee Stadium, with the veteran lefty holding the Athletics to two runs and scattering nine hits over the first seven innings. Another longtime Yankee, Mariano Rivera, tossed a scoreless ninth to record his fourth save of the young season.

Johnny Damon finished 2-for-5 with a homer and two runs batted in to pace New York offensively, while Brett Gardner delivered a two-RBI single during a four-run second inning that propelled the Yankees to their latest win.

Oakland starter Dana Eveland (0-1) was dealt the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits and walking four batters in just four innings of work.

Kurt Suzuki went 4-for-4 with an RBI single for Oakland, which lost for the third straight time, while Mark Ellis knocked home a pair of runs on the evening.

Ex-Yankee Jason Giambi ended 1-for-4 with a run scored in his first game in the Bronx since returning to Oakland as a free agent this offseason. The former American League MVP spent the past seven seasons in pinstripes after bolting the A's via free agency following the 2001 campaign.

The power-hitting first baseman and his Oakland teammates will be taking their swings this afternoon off one of the Yankees' marquee offseason additions, as CC Sabathia makes his fourth start with his new club in today's finale.

Sabathia, lured to New York with a seven-year, $161 million deal in December, struggled badly in an Opening Day loss at Baltimore but has pitched considerably better over his last two outings. The high-priced left-hander earned his first win as a Yankee by tossing 7 2/3 shutout innings against Kansas City on April 11, then routinely worked out of trouble in a no-decision against one of his former teams, the Cleveland Indians, last Thursday.

The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner walked five Indians and lasted just 5 2/3 innings in Thursday's start, but limited his ex-mates to just one run before exiting.

Sabathia, a native of the Bay Area, has not had much success when facing his hometown Athletics over the course of his nine-year career. The 28-year-old is just 3-7 in 15 lifetime starts against Oakland and has compiled a subpar 6.12 earned run average in those games.

The Athletics will send out highly-regarded rookie Brett Anderson, who takes another stab at attempting to record his first major-league win. The 21-year- old pitched well enough to accomplish the feat a week ago, when he held Boston to two runs and five hits over seven strong innings, but received no offensive support in an eventual 8-2 Oakland loss.

Anderson, tabbed as the No. 7 overall prospect by Baseball America heading into this season, made his big-league debut on April 10 and was dealt a loss by Seattle after giving up five runs through six frames. This will be the young lefty's first-ever road start.

The Yankees have won five straight meetings with the A's and swept a three- game set in Oakland's final trip to the old Yankee Stadium last July.

Following today's contest, New York will visit Boston on Friday for three consecutive clashes with the rival Red Sox.

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SPORTS BETTING

NFL Football Betting Online

In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.

It is called the "pointspread."

Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.

But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.

A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.

In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.

The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .

Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.

Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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