Twins have brooms ready for Mariners

Baseball Betting Lines

08/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins will attempt to complete a three-game road sweep of the lowly Seattle Mariners today at Safeco Field.

Carl Pavano, one of the majors' most surprising performers in 2010, will take the ball for Minnesota today. On Tuesday, Pavano struggled against Texas, allowing four earned runs on eight hits in eight innings en route to defeat. He has now lost back-to-back starts for the first time since May. The veteran righty is 15-9 this season with a 3.56 ERA and six complete games.

Over the last decade, Pavano has only thrown a total of 20 innings against Seattle and owns a 1-1 mark against Mariners during that time with a 4.05 ERA.

Luke French, who is set to get the ball for Seattle today, is a young left- hander who continues to search for some consistency. French is 2-4 this season with a 4.57 ERA, and he has only 18 strikeouts with 16 walks in 45 1/3 innings. Last Sunday, he allowed five runs on five hits and five walks in five innings of a loss to the Yankees.

French is 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA in his brief career against the Twins.

On Saturday, Nick Blackburn hurled 8 2/3 scoreless innings and Denard Span drove in the lone run as Minnesota clipped Seattle, 1-0.

Blackburn (8-8) yielded two hits to win for the first time since June 29, and failed to allow a run in a start for the first time since May 9 against Baltimore.

He retired 21 batters in succession from the second through the ninth and finished with a season-high six strikeouts. Brian Fuentes made his Twins debut a successful one, a four-pitch strikeout to notch his 24th save.

"That was good. Joe (Mauer) and I had these guys off balance. They just weren't putting good swings on the ball," Blackburn said of his start. "I was getting away with pitches down the middle and they just were looking for something else, so they were beating it into the ground."

Delmon Young added two hits and Danny Valencia scored for the Twins, who have won three in a row and extended their lead over Chicago in the AL Central to 4 1/2 games after the White Sox lost to the Yankees later Saturday.

Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson left the game in the second inning with a right ankle sprain, and Minnesota DH Jim Thome later exited with back stiffness.

Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez collected the lone hits for the Mariners, who suffered their sixth loss in seven.

Doug Fister (4-10) was the hard-luck loser as he scattered six hits and one run over seven innings, fanning six with two walks.

Minnesota has won six of its nine meetings with the Mariners this season.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.