Nats edge Marlins

Baseball Betting Lines

05/08/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Renyel Pinto hit Adam Dunn with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to force in the go-ahead run, which held up as the Washington Nationals took a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins in the middle contest of a three-game series.

Josh Willingham and Willie Harris both homered, while Willingham also tripled in the victory, the Nationals' third in their last five games. Washington dropped Friday's series opener, 4-2, after Florida rallied for two runs in the eighth.

Matt Chico started for the Nationals after being recalled from Double-A Harrisburg earlier Saturday, and allowed two runs on six hits in five-plus innings. Tyler Clippard (5-0) gave up a run in 1 1/3 innings of relief but still got the victory, while Matt Capps worked a scoreless ninth for his MLB-best 12th save of the season.

Gaby Sanchez finished with two hits, including a two-run homer, for the Marlins, who have lost four of their last five.

Burke Badenhop (0-4) took the loss after giving up the tying and go-ahead runs. He began the bottom of the seventh on the mound for the Marlins and hung a slider to Willingham, the leadoff batter, who blasted it to left field for a home run that evened the contest at 4-4.

Badenhop retired the next three batters and remained on the mound in the eighth, which he began by hitting Ian Desmond. Cristian Guzman then reached on a bunt single, and he and Desmond moved into scoring position on a throwing error by first baseman Sanchez.

After pinch-hitter Nyjer Morgan grounded out to first, Badenhop intentionally walked Ryan Zimmerman to load the bases. Pinto came in to pitch to Dunn in a lefty-lefty matchup, but his fifth pitch -- a 1-2 changeup -- ran far inside and hit Dunn to plate Desmond.

Brian Sanches got Florida out of the inning from there, but Capps held the Marlins scoreless in the ninth to seal the victory.

The Nationals took the lead in the fourth. Willingham's two-out triple chased home Adam Kennedy, who began the inning with a base hit, and Harris followed with a homer to right to make it a 3-0 game.

However, Florida rallied in the sixth and seventh to take the lead.

Chico began the sixth, but was removed after giving up leadoff singles to Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez. Jorge Cantu then hit an RBI double to left, ending Chico's outing. Dan Uggla followed with a run-scoring groundout off Miguel Batista to get the Marlins within one.

Sanchez's two-out blast off Clippard in the seventh gave Florida a 4-3 edge.

Game Notes

Batista threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the Nationals, while Guzman ended with two hits...Chico started in place of John Lannan, who missed a start because of discomfort in his left elbow. It was Chico's first start since 2008...Capps has converted all of his save opportunities this season.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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