Teixeira, Yankees drop Tigers to keep pace with Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

08/18/2010 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira had three hits, including a two-run homer, and Curtis Granderson went deep for a second straight night against his former team, as the New York Yankees beat Detroit, 9-5, in the third portion of a four-game series.

Teixeira and Robinson Cano hit consecutive homers off Jeremy Bonderman (6-9) in the opening inning and Granderson added another off the right-hander in the fifth, as the Yankees won their second in a row and remained in a tie with Tampa Bay atop the AL East.

Dustin Moseley (3-2) allowed five hits and four runs over five innings to get the win.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup a second straight night due to a strained left calf muscle.

Miguel Cabrera belted a pair of solo homers for the Tigers, who had a three- game winning streak broken in Tuesday's 6-2 loss. Cabrera has four homers in his last four games and 30 this year. It's the sixth time in his career he has hit 30 homers in a season.

Bonderman surrendered six hits and seven runs -- six earned -- over five frames to lose his third straight start. He fell to 3-9 lifetime against the Yankees.

Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the first, and one out later Teixeira homered to right field. Cano followed by lining an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right.

Cabrera went deep leading off the second and clubbed No. 30 with two down in the fourth, but the Yankees widened the gap to 6-2 in the bottom half. Austin Kearns walked and Ramiro Pena, who started again at third base, tripled to center field. Gardner then doubled to center, and he scored later in the frame when the Tigers committed two errors on one play - by Cabrera and second baseman Ramon Santiago.

Don Kelly hit a two-run homer in the away fifth inning, but Granderson made it a 7-4 game with a shot over the wall in right.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the seventh, and Kearns roped a two-run double to left-center off Enrique Gonzalez.

The Tigers then filled the bases with nobody out in the eighth, but managed just one run after David Robertson entered the game. Brandon Inge lofted a sacrifice fly to left, and Alex Avila grounded into a force play at third and Kelly grounded back to the mound.

Game Notes

Bonderman has lost seven of his last eight decisions against the Yankees dating back to May 29, 2006. He has surrendered 18 home runs over his last 14 starts after he allowed just two home runs in his first nine outings (eight starts) of the season...Earlier Wednesday, the Tigers placed infielder Carlos Guillen on the 15-day disabled list with a deep contusion in his left knee. The team also recalled infielder Will Rhymes from Triple-A Toledo...Tigers manager Jim Leyland was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing with home plate umpire Eric Cooper...Robertson wasn't charged with a run in the eighth inning. He has not allowed a run in his last 18 appearances...The triple was Pena's first extra-base hit since May 8, and only his second this season.

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.