Canadian MLB report: Francis impresses in big league return

Baseball Betting Lines

05/17/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies lefty Jeff Francis made his first major league start since Sept. 12, 2008 on Sunday, lasting seven innings in the Rockies' 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Francis did not factor into the decision but looked very sharp in his big league return. He surrendered seven hits, allowing one run and two walks, while striking out six.

With Jorge De La Rosa on the disabled list, Francis will add a much-needed left-handed arm to the Rockies' pitching staff.

The Vancouver, B.C. native missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder.

Before the injury, Francis had the worst season of his career in 2008, finishing with a 4-10 record, despite allowing three runs or less in his final six starts of the year.

Just a few seasons ago, the lefty helped lead the Rockies to their first World Series appearance in franchise history, setting career-highs with 215 innings pitched, 165 strikeouts and 17 wins in '07.

From 2005-2007, Francis went an impressive 44-32 and solidified himself as a staple at the front of the team's rotation.

WARM WELCOMES

Michael Saunders - The Seattle Mariners promoted the 23-year-old Saunders from Triple-A Tacoma on May 6.

Since his arrival, Saunders has appeared in eight games, with three multi-hit efforts and two home runs along the way. The Vancouver, B.C. native is batting .296 with six RBI in 27 at bats this year. Saunders could see an extended look if he remains productive in the Mariners' slumping offense. If the Milton Bradley experiment proves to be a failure for Seattle, Saunders could very well become the everyday left fielder.

In his rookie season in '09, the outfielder appeared in 46 games, batting just .221 in 122 at bats. Saunders already has more RBI this season than he did all of last year.

Adam Stern - Stern, the 30-year-old from London, ON, made his first appearance in the big leagues this season on May 14, after being called up by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Stern hadn't played since the '07 season, where he appeared in two games with the Baltimore Orioles, never drawing an at bat. The outfielder has logged 49 games in the big leagues, spending most of his baseball career in the minors. He made his MLB debut in 2005 with the Boston Red Sox.

STREAKING

Russell Martin - The Dodgers backstop provided the lone run in the Dodgers 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday, with an RBI single in the sixth, to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Despite the streak, Martin is batting .264 on the season with four home runs and 12 RBI.

He is coming off his worst season in the majors in '09, when the catcher batted .250. Before last year, Martin had hit at least .280 in each of his three MLB seasons.

Jason Bay - After starting the month of May 2-for-17 at the plate, Bay has put together a 10-game hitting streak, with four multi-hit games during that span. Since the beginning of his streak on May 7, Bay has raised his average from .238 to .277.

While the hitting is welcome after a slow start to the season, Bay has lacked in the power department, going deep just once this year.

Justin Morneau - There is no stopping Morneau right now, as the left-handed slugger was leading the American League at weekend's end in average, on-base percentage, OPS and is second in walks and slugging percentage. Morneau is batting .362 with 9 homers and 25 RBI.

The Twins first baseman has three home runs in his last eight games, a stretch that included four straight multi-hit games.

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Why Sports Betting is so much fun?

Betting Sports

The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)

But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)

Points (or Runs) Scored

Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.

The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.

Future Bets

Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.

Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.

MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.