Weekend Betting Report – Belmont, Baseball and Kobe
Written by Greg Waters
Fri, 5 Jun 2009
Category sportsbook
Feedback Rating - no votes
The universe appears to have corrected itself.
A year ago, the Tampa Bay Rays, a perennial doormat, surprised everyone as they dominated the AL East division, beating out the usual contenders, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, for the division title.
This season, all is as it should be in the American League’s East division: the BoSox and Yanks are currently tied for the lead going into the weekend, while the Rays are fourth.
However, Tampa Bay is not out of the race, as they are a mere five games behind, and can make up a little ground this weekend with a four-game set in New York against the Yankees.
Tampa hasn’t posted impressive numbers in their last 20 meetings with the Bronx Bombers, only managing an 8-12 mark.
“Over/Under” bettors take note. The last 11 clashes between these two have produced 8 Overs.
Offseason acquisition CC Sabathia will take the mound for the Yankees in the opener and he has gotten off to a rough start with this new team at home, going 2-3 SU so far. Note that he has a record of 4 Overs and 1 Under in his five home starts.
Sabathia has been much more profitable against the Rays going 8-3 SU dating back to his days with the Cleveland Indians.
Online sportsbooks have Tampa Bay listed as +170 road ‘dogs while the New York Yankees are favored at -200 for the series opener and the Total is set at 9.5.
SPORTSBETTING.com is seeing action come in on the Yankees, but it’s not heavily one-sided, perhaps due to Sabathia’s early-season struggles. So far, only 57% of all the wagering volume on this game has been put down on New York.
- Belmont Stakes: Affirmed may have been the last horse to take the Triple Crown—which includes the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and Belmont Stakes—but jockey Calvin Borel will seek to be the first jockey to capture a Triple Crown atop multiple horses.
Borel rode Mine That Bird to a first-place finish at this year’s Kentucky Derby; he was on victorious Rachel Alexandra, who just beat out Mine That Bird, at the Preakness and will hop on Mine That Bird again this Saturday at the Belmont Stakes.
Mine That Bird, with Borel as jockey, is the odds-on favorite at most online sportsbooks to finish first at the Belmont Stakes at +170.
The race goes Saturday afternoon.
NBA Finals - If Game 1 of the NBA finals was any indication of the rest of the series, this year’s championship will be a quickie.
Listed as 6-point home faves, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Orlando Magic 100-75, although the final score didn’t dominate the Over; the Total was set at 205.
Game 2 goes off on Sunday.
NHL Finals - While it looked like the Detroit Red Wings were going to bulldoze the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup final, it’s a different story now.
On Thursday night, the Pens knotted up the series at 2-2 when they defeated the Wings 4-2 at the “Igloo,” covering as -135 home faves and going Over the Total of 5.5.
Going into Game 5, Pittsburgh will be headed back to the Motor City and while Detroit goalie Chris Osgood has struggled the past two games in Steel Town, he has been rock-solid at home.
Osgood is 10-1 SU at home this postseason and is in the midst of a seven-game home winning streak; the Wings are also 3-8 on the Over/Under at home during the playoffs.
It’s a huge weekend for sports bettors, from the Belmont Stakes betting, to all the MLB action, to another big NBA playoff game and even some NHL action still kicking around in early June.
Be sure to take advantage of the 100% Belmont Stakes bonus at SPORTSBETTING.com and enjoy the weekend.
link: http://www.wheretobet.com/redirect/sportsbetting.com-205/all