9-1-14

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Phils, Hamels streaking on the Under away from home

The Under has been the hot bet with Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels on the road as of late, as six of his last seven starts away from Citizens Bank Park have gone under the total.

Hamels takes the mound for the Phils Monday when they visit the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

The Braves are -142 faves with an O/U of 6.5.

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This pitcher is lights out on the Under at home

If you've been betting on the Baltimore Orioles at home with Kevin Gausman on the mound, you've been collecting some nice profits.

The Under is 5-1 in Gausman's last six starts at Camden Yards. He'll get the call when the O's host the Minnesota Twins Monday.

The Orioles are -138 faves with an O/U of eight.

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Miami at Louisville Point Spread and Pick
By: Matty Simo
Sportingnews

A new ACC rivalry begins on Monday when two teams in the top 30 of the Don Best/Linemakers Power Ratings square off, as the 24th-rated Louisville Cardinals host the No. 27th Miami Hurricanes (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Cardinals enter 2014 having closed last season with a six-game winning streak, capped by a 36-9 rout of the Hurricanes in the Russell Athletic Bowl last Dec. 28.

Line: Louisville -3.5, Total: 53.5

Line movement and notes: The Cardinals opened at -2.5 and have since been bet up to -3.5, while the total has stayed steady from its opening number. This is an interesting move considering Louisville recently found out that senior wide receiver DeVante Parker will miss six to eight weeks with a broken foot that required surgery. For updated spreads and totals from around Las Vegas, visit our live odds page.

Cards go back to the future: Louisville got a blast from its past when former head coach Bobby Petrino decided to return to the school where he won 41 games in four seasons from 2003-06. The Cards also covered the spread in 30 of the 50 games under him. Petrino’s coaching history since then has been turbulent. He left the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons after just 13 games in 2007 for Arkansas, then got into an infamous motorcycle accident while coaching the Razorbacks that uncovered an affair with an assistant he hired. Needless to say, he is happy to be back where he enjoyed a lot of success early on.

But Petrino has a massive challenge ahead of him starting on Monday without departed star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who stormed the Hurricanes with a career-high 447 passing yards and three touchdowns in the bowl game before getting drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. Petrino led the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to an 8-4 record last year in his first job since getting fired at Arkansas, including a 4-3 mark in the Sun Belt that was good for a tie for third place. The Hilltoppers were also 5-7 against the spread, failing to cover five of their last six.

The injury to Parker though could be huge as well, considering the Cardinals have a new QB in redshirt sophomore Will Gardner. The 6-foot-5, 226-pound Gardner has already battled back from two torn ACLs to earn the starting job and will now be without a dangerous weapon in Parker, a projected first-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft who totaled 55 catches for a team-high 885 yards and scored 12 touchdowns as one of Bridgewater’s tops targets last season.

“He's a tremendous player,” Petrino said. “We're fortunate with the situation we're in that we have a lot of experienced players (to fill in).

“They're all going to have to contribute. You're never going to replace a guy like DeVante with just one guy.”

‘Canes underrated according to White and Avello: The Linemakers on Sporting News’ very own Kenny White believes Miami is one of the most underrated college football teams in the country heading into this year, and Johnny Avello agrees with him. The Wynn's Executive Director of Race & Sports Operations said the action at his shop, though, is going the other way.

“I’ll tell you what then, if he feels that way about it, he should bet Miami wins 8 OVER +145 – 8 is nothing, right?” Avello asked earlier this week when told of White’s thoughts. “After opening a pick, they’re betting Miami UNDER 8 wins -165. They disagree with him, (but) I agree with him.”

White said he has already bet Miami OVER 8 wins, and he thinks this team has more potential than Louisville, possibly winning 10 or 11 games this season.

Neither team is currently ranked in the AP or USA Today Top 25 polls.

The Linemakers' lean: Both teams will be looking to get their new QBs settled, and public money will likely push this total higher. So we'll see where the number goes ahead of kickoff and make a play on the UNDER. Also, a small play on Miami should this spread grow beyond +4.

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HALL OF FAME / William Holloway

Cardinals(-117)

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ADVANCED SPORTS INVESTMENTS

PJ'S TENNIS CORNER (0.00)

ATP - US OPEN @ NEW YORK, U.S.A.
1PM- JW TSONGA +117 vs A MURRAY

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Advanced sports investments

perry's soccer club (0.00)

portugal - 1 liga- boavista porto @ rio ave fc - under 2.5 -145 (3pm)

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INSIDE THE NUMBER$

ISSUE #1
8:00 PM ET Miami-Florida 0-0 at Louisville 0-0
INS SELECTION- LOUISVILLE -3.5

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MLBPredictions / Kevin

2 UNIT = New York Mets @ Miami Marlins - METS TO WIN (+109) *Early
Listed Pitchers: Wheeler vs Alvarez
(Note: I'm risking 2.00 units to win 2.18 units)

2 UNIT = Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - RED SOX TO WIN (+154) *Early
Listed Pitchers: De La Rosa vs Smyly
(Note: I'm risking 2.00 units to win 3.08 units)

2 UNIT = Seattle Mariners @ Oakland Athletics - MARINERS TO WIN (+125) *Afternoon
Listed Pitchers: Young vs Hammel
(Note: I'm risking 2.00 units to win 2.50 units)

2 UNIT = Texas Rangers @ Kansas City Royals - ROYALS -1.5 (+110)
Listed Pitchers: Lewis vs Ventura
(Note: I'm risking 2.00 units to win 2.20 units)

Kyle's Pick(s)
-- No play today

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Johnny Wynn

Seattle Mariners +136

Pittsburgh Pirates +111

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PLAYBOOK / MARC LAWRENCE

Miami Fla over LOUISVILLE by 3

When Texas waved enough money at Louisville HC Charlie Strong to lure
him away on January 7th, the Cardinal brain trust wasted no time in going
to Plan B – or in this case, Plan 3B: Bring Back Bobby. Yes, ‘new’ coach
Bobby Petrino returns to his old stomping grounds for the fi rst time since
2006 and like its vagabond leader, the Cardinals will play in a different
conference for the 4th time in 11 years as they make their ACC debut
here. Petrino hasn’t had much luck keeping his Harley upright but he sure
knows how to keep the local folks happy: BP owns a wallet-fi lling 34-14-
1 ATS mark in home games during his college coaching career. He’s also
gone 9-0 SU and 4-1 ATS in season openers, and Louisville has cashed its
last 12 tickets against the Atlantic Coast boys. One of those wins came in
last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl when the Cardinals destroyed Miami Fla,
36-9, outgaining the Hurricanes 554-174. Despite that humbling defeat,
don’t count out the current crop of Canes… not when this year’s training
camp has been energized by a heavyweight quarterback battle won by
freshman Brad Kaaya (18-year old Californian ‘Superman on Campus’,
heavily recruited by UCLA and USC) over senior Jake Heaps (ex-BYU and
Kansas starter). Miami also benefi ts from the return of star RB Duke
Johnson, who was lost for the fi nal three games of 2013 with a serious
ankle injury. The ‘U’ has some good ATS numbers on its side as well, going
23-5 SU in season openers (13-5 ATS away) and 8-3 ATS as a conference dog
of 7 or less points. Prodigal son Petrino may be getting all the attention
here but Miami HC Al Golden shows up with a superb 22-6-2 ATS mark
as a conference pick or dog. In truth, there are lots of good numbers on
both sides of the ball – and for both coaches – but the bottom line is
humiliating bowl revenge looms large. With a mere four starters back on
defense for the Cardinals, look for the Hurricane offense to control the
tempo and spoil Bobby Boy’s return. This just in: the Cardinals’ top wide
receiver, senior Devante Parker, will miss tonight’s game with a broken
left small toe, and could be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

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Trev Rogers

Tampa/ Boston UNDER 7.5

Tampa Bay Rays

Minnesota/ Baltimore UNDER 8

Atlanta Braves

Detroit Tigers

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Power Play Wins

Atlanta Braves

San Francisco Giants

Louisville -3

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DAVID BANKS

LOUISVILLE -3

The Louisville Cardinals have made the jump this year from the fledging AAC to the ACC, meaning that this is one of the few conference games on the Week 1 schedule as the Cards host the Miami Hurricanes Monday in the first ACC game in school history at 8:00 ET on ESPN. Louisville comes off of an 11-1 regular season last year, although the loss did come here at home at Papa John's Stadium to UCF. Miami finished 9-3 during the regular season in 2013 with all three losses coming inside the ACC (5-3). This is also a rematch of the Russell Athletic Bowl last December in which Louisville dismantled the Canes 36-9.

Still, there are quite a few red flags in place for the Cardinals here to suggest that this contest will be nothing like that bowl game, and that this should be a tight hard-fought affair with an outright Miami upset not at all out of the question. After all, the major architect of Louisville's success the last couple of years now plays for the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL in Teddy Bridgewater, who was one of the all-time great quarterbacks in school history. Trying to follow in those huge footsteps will be sophomore Will Gardner, who has the size (6-foor-5, 226 pounds) and the arm strength to succeed, but lacks big-time experience and draws a seemingly tough first assignment vs. a Miami secondary that returns all four starters from last year. Furthermore, the Cardinals will be without senior wide receiver DeVante Parker for six to eight weeks following surgery on a broken toe, giving young Gardner one less reliable target to throw to. Now yes, the Louisville defense ranked second in the country last year in scoring defense allowing 12.2 points per game, trailing only the national champions from Florida State. However, how much of that had to do with facing a weaker AAC schedule? After all, UCF may have been the best team the Cardinals faced all year and Louisville allowed 38 points and 446 total yards in the loss.

Miami had it best season of the Coach Al Golden era last year, and even though the Hurricanes lost four of their last six games including the bowl game after a 7-0 start that had them ranked seventh in the country, all of those defeats came after running back Duke Johnson was lost for the year with an ankle injury. Johnson had 920 rushing yards on 6.3 yards per carry with six touchdowns in seven games, and he returns healthy for this season. Granted the Canes are going with a freshman quarterback in Brad Kaaya, who beat out senior Jake Heaps for the job, but the presence of Johnson and also top receivers Stacy Coley and Phillip Dorsett should make the quarterback transition easier. The defense is experienced as it returns seven starters in all including the entire secondary as mentioned, including All-American senior linebacker Denzel Perryman, who led Miami in tackles a year ago.

Miami went 5-0 ATS in September last season including an outright upset of the Florida Gators. Louisville is just 1-4 ATS in its last five home games.

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SPORTSWAGERS

CFL

Toronto @ HAMILTON

Toronto +100 over HAMILTON

(Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.00)

1:00 PM EST. The Argos opened as a slight favorite in this one. Subsequently, some breaking news out of Hamilton inspired a change of heart by the sportsbooks, which now sees the Tiger-Cats as the slight favorite. The first bit of news that came across the wire was that Hamilton QB Zach Collaros would be ready to go for the first time since Week 2 when he suffered a concussion. The second story of course, is that the City of Hamilton has approved the use of Tim Hortons Field for the Labour Day Classic. The documentation was completed less than 18 hours before the scheduled 1 p.m. kickoff after City inspectors spent much of Sunday making sure the facility met the necessary requirements. It's good for just 12 hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday. The new facility’s capacity is 24,000 and if enough people make the trip from surrounding areas (and there is a lot of them, including Toronto, which is roughly 65 km east of Hamilton), the joint will be sold out. If not, about 20,000 are expected.

That’s all good for the city but a struggling team playing on a surface they haven’t even practiced in yet can’t be considered beneficial. The nuances of the new stadium will be as much of an intangible to the home team as it will to the visitors. Furthermore, we also have to wonder of the return of Zach Collaros will hurt the Ti-Cats more than it will help them. Collaros has been out for almost two months. As Hamilton’s starting QB, he went 0-2 with the Tabbies being outscored 59-34. Collaros completed just 23 of 41 passes for 212 yards while Dan LeFevour completed 101 passes in 149 attempts for 1241 yards in the last seven games. Sitting for eight weeks, a rusty and unproven Zach Colloras may not even be an upgrade. Hamilton’s lone win this season occurred against the lifeless Redblacks. Its next easiest opponent was Winnipeg, a game they lost 27-26 but were outgained by over 200 yards. The past two weeks, the Ti-Cats played decent but still lost in British Columbia and at home to Calgary because their defense couldn’t come up with any big stops at crucial times. Hamilton has been able to move the ball very effectively over the past three weeks and now they’re making a QB switch for no reason that makes any sense. Dan LeFevour was the only reason they were in those games. The Tiger-Cats need a change on defense, not at QB.

Meanwhile, the Argonauts are the class of the East with the highest rated QB in the game in Ricky Ray. The Argos trailed Edmonton last week, 31-10 at the half but a furious second half rally put them in a position to win it. In the end a late pick-six made the final score 41-27 but it was closer than that final score reveals. Since losing their opening game in Winnipeg, Toronto has outgained eight of their past nine opponents. That includes Saskatchewan twice and Calgary once. Every week, the Argos get their yards and opportunities to score and with a couple of tweaks inside the red zone, they have the potential to put up 35 or more every week. Ricky Ray is the most accurate passer this league has ever seen. It seems like he hits his receiver’s right in the numbers every time. Toronto is 3-6 but could easily be 5-4. This Labour Day Classic between Hamilton and Toronto has produced some of the best games in the history of the CFL and certainly some of the most exciting too. In that respect, it’s like Big Brother in that you can “expect the unexpected”. No result would surprise but if we’re sticking to our theory of playing value, we get the better QB for sure and the better defense for sure while the Tiger-Cats are putting in a cold QB in a new stadium in an attempt to change the course of its 1-6 start. It likely won’t work.

NOTE: We’re passing on Calgary/Edmonton. At the time of this writing, Eskies QB Mike Reilly was still questionable and Edmonton has still not revealed who their starting QB will be. When that news is released the line may change and we’re not about to make any assumptions regarding either.

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SPORTSWAGERS

NCAAF

Miami @ LOUISVILLE

Miami +150 over LOUISVILLE

(Risking 2 units - To Win: 3.00)

8:00 PM EST. The Hurricanes are a dark horse to win the ACC and this opening week game can set the tone for the men of Miami. The Hurricanes are a team that very quietly won nine games last year. In fact, the ‘Canes have assembled an incredible defense robust with blue-chip recruits. The question is whether the talent will translate and if it does, Miami will once again implore its signature blend of defense on the college football universe. The x-factor in this match-up is Duke Johnson. The Duke is one of the best running backs in college football and has gone unjustifiably unrecognized. Johnson returns from a broken ankle injury which sidelined him for the remainder of the 2013 season. Nevertheless, in eight games, Johnson managed to put up remarkable numbers: 145 carries, 920 yards, 6 rushing TDs. When Johnson played in 2013, the Hurricanes were 7-1. The sole defeat coming in the contest with Florida State where Johnson suffered the injury. Louisville's defense is suspect and the central piece of the Cardinal offense is wide-receiver Davonte Parker, who is out with a broken toe. Additionally, the replacement for Teddy Bridgewater remains a nebulous void in the offense and starter Will Gardner will be tested immediately against a vicious Hurricane attack.

With Parker out, Kai De La Cruz will be stepping in to the role as the "X" wide receiver. De La Cruz is primarily a specialist on return teams but he did manage to accumulate three receiving touchdowns in 2013. De La Cruz (15 rec, 271 yards, 3 TD) along with Eli Rogers (44 rec, 536 yards, 4 TD) comprise an excellent set of receivers but Louisville’s primary focus on offense figures to be the duo of senior running backs. The Cardinals lost Sinorise Perry but they still have both senior rushers Dominique Brown and Auburn transfer Michael Dyer (the freshman sensation, that was part of the 2010-11 championship team) to lead the way for Louisville. Thing is, the Canes have an answer with one of the best run stoppers and linebackers in America in Denzel Perryman. Perryman was a 2013 All-ACC First Team Selection, 2013 All-American Honorable Mention by Sports Illustrated, 2013 Miami Defensive MVP and he even received the Hard Hitter Award too. In a game in which the dog has at least as good a chance of winning and probably a better chance, we’ll pass on the points and take the ‘Canes straight up.