Why not bet San Diego tonight?

It may not seem like a lot, but San Diego has won three of its last four games for the first time in over a month. On Wednesday night, the Padres will continue a 4-game set at home against the Astros, trying to make it four out of five. Oddsmakers have pu

2009-07-01

It may not seem like a lot, but San Diego has won three of its last four games for the first time in over a month. On Wednesday night, the Padres will continue a 4-game set at home against the Astros, trying to make it four out of five. Oddsmakers have put them as +110 underdogs. Don’t let the line dissuade you though, San Diego is backed by two different powerful FoxSheets systems.

Here are those systems. They are similar but still unique. The first one is a rare 5* StatFox Super Situation:

Play Against - Road teams when the money line is +125 to -125 (HOUSTON) - with a bad bullpen that blows 38% or more of their save opportunities against opponent with a starting pitcher whose ERA is 6.70 or worse on the season (NL)
(74-21 since 1997.) (77.9%, +51.5 units. Rating=5*)

The other one reads as follows:

Play On - Any team (SAN DIEGO) - with a starting pitcher whose ERA is 6.70 or worse on the season (NL), after 2 straight games where the bullpen gave up no earned runs
(44-18 over the last 5 seasons.) (71.0%, +34.8 units. Rating=4*)

Both systems seem to be indicating that this game could be decided in the late innings, and the fact that San Diego’s bullpen is pitching well, and Houston’s is not, gives the Padres an edge.

On Tuesday, the Padres snapped their six-game skid to the Astros, but they may have lost their best player in the processwith Adrian Gonzalez departing after straining his right knee sliding into third on a fourth-inning RBI triple.

"We're going to see how it sets up overnight, and (Wednesday) morning we'll see if there is a need for any tests," manager Bud Black said.

Gonzalez has played in 283 straight games, the longest current streak in the majors. He's 22 shy of Steve Garvey's franchise record.

San Diego is last in baseball with 291 runs and a .236 batting average. The Padres hit .230 while losing 17 of 26 in June. They dropped 10 of 15 at Petco Park last month after winning 10 in a row there from May 7-24.

San Diego will hand the ball to Walter Silva (0-1, 9.35 ERA), who makes his fifth career start. The 32-year-old rookie walked four and allowed a season-high nine runs over 2 1-3 innings of Friday's 12-2 loss to Texas.

The Astros (36-39) counter with veteran right-hander Brian Moehler (4-4, 6.05). Houston has won his last three starts and seven of the previous nine. Moehler gave up four runs - one earned - in five innings of Thursday's 5-4 victory over Kansas City. He didn't get the decision after Houston committed three errors.

Houston is 13-5 against the NL West in 2009, but 2-5 at Petco Park.

Game time is 10:05 PM ET in San Diego.

Football Betting is back on Wednesday!
It might not be the first day of the college season, nor the start of the NFL preseason for that matter, but football bettors can still rejoice that the action is back on Wednesday night, with the CFL offering a Canada Day doubleheader. It’s a unique set of games in that the first one pits the two worst teams of a year ago, while the second matches the defending Grey Cup finalists from 2008. Still, both contests should be competitive. Here’s a quick look at both, including some key betting info, direct from FoxSheets.

In the opening matchup, Hamilton will host Toronto. These teams combined to win just three and four games respectively a year ago, at least four less than any other clubs, so work clearly needs to be done. Despite that, cautious optimism still reigns supreme. Hamilton will likely be handing the reigns of the team to young quarterback Quinton Porter, who last started for Boston College in the 2005 season. He will be guiding an offense that actually produced well in ’08, scoring 24.5 PPG while gaining a respectable 8.2 yards per pass attempt.

Defensively in where the Tiger Cats really need to improve in order to be more competitive this season. That unit yielded 32.9 PPG to opponents last season, second most in the CFL, not coincidentally to, Toronto.

The Argonauts have not won a game since Labour Day and have a new coach with no CFL experience. Still, there is hope that Bart Andrus and his staff can help quarterback Kerry Joseph return to the form that made him a league MVP and a Grey Cup champion with Saskatchewan in 2007.

Toronto was outscored by 13.1 PPG, and was probably fortunate to win four games in ’08, as it ranked dead last in the league in both points scored and allowed.

The Argos opened as a 1-1/2 point favorite, but since the line has moved to Hamilton minus-2. The total has settled in at 51.5. The Argos have won three of the last four head-to-head games in Hamilton, both straight up and ATS, including that Labour Day triumph, 34-31.

Both teams sported ugly 2-7 SU & ATS records in the current home/road dichotomies, so no real advantage can be gained in that analysis. The StatFox Game Estimator #1 projects a 33-26 win for the hosts.

If you’re interested in backing a top trend for game one of the twinbill, consider that HAMILTON is 18-5 UNDER (+12.5 Units), and TORONTO 18-6 UNDER (+11.4 Units) in the first two weeks of the season since 1996.

The nightcap is certainly a bit more intriguing of a game, as defending champion Calgary welcomes runner up Montreal to town. The Stampeders opened as a 3-1/2 point favorite but have been bet up to minus-7.5.

Calgary is the favorite by oddsmakers to repeat as CFL champ, but if any team is to stand in its way, it would be Montreal, the heavy favorite in the East Division. Repeating a Grey Cup title has proven to be a tough task. It's only been done five times, with the 1996-97 Argonauts being the last team to accomplish the feat. The Stampeders will be looking to be the sixth team.

"The thing is, we didn't peak last year - in any of the phases (of football)," said Stamps quarterback Henry Burris. "This year, that gives us that challenge to go out there and build the right way and make sure we're peaking at the right time - and actually peak this season."

For a team that didn't peak, Calgary was pretty good. They finished 13-5 and were second in the league with 568 points scored. The defence allowed just 387 points against, tops in the CFL. Coach John Hufnagel was named the CFL's Coach of the Year.

If Calgary does repeat, they would be just the fourth team to win the Grey Cup as the host. The last team to pull that off was the B.C. Lions in 1994.

The Alouettes won the East at 11-7 last year and will have 2008 Most Outstanding Player Anthony Calvillo back at quarterback to lead an offence that led the league with 584 points scored. Avon Cobourne will chase the league's first 1,000 yard rushing and 1,000 yard receiving season. He was on pace to do it last year before injuring his ankle.

One notable stat plagues the Alouettes. They were 0-3 playing Calgary last season, including the 22-14 Grey Cup setback. Montreal scored just 21.0 PPG in those three contests, well below the 35.1 PPG pace set in the other 17 games it played.

There are two key StatFox Power Trends available for Wednesday’s game:

Favoring Calgary ATS:
CALGARY is 8-1 ATS (+6.9 Units) in non-conference games over the last 2 seasons. The average score was CALGARY 33.3, OPPONENT 18.2 - (Rating = 1*)

Favoring Under the Total:
MONTREAL is 18-6 UNDER (+11.4 Units) in the first two weeks of the season since 1996. The average score was MONTREAL 28.9, OPPONENT 17.8 - (Rating = 1*)

The StatFox Game Estimator calls for only a 30-26 win by Calgary, so it would seem that oddsmakers had it right when they opened up the line. We’ll see if bettors have gotten a bit overzealous in backing the defending champs.

Tune in to both games in HD on Canada’s TSN tonight, starting at 7:00 PM ET.

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