Weekend Betting Report – Belmont, Baseball and Kobe
Friday, 05 June 2009
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 and
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 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.
