Iannetta, Cook help Rockies avoid sweep

Baseball Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Iannetta's solo home run in the sixth allowed seven strong innings by Aaron Cook to hold up in a 1-0 Rockies win against the Reds to avert a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.

Cook (4-5) gave up six hits, fanned five and walked one to pick up an elusive first road win to the 2010 season. He was winless in nine previous road starts having gone 0-5 in that stretch.

Iannetta had one of three multi-hit efforts in Sunday's pitchers' duel with the Reds' Orlando Cabrera and Drew Stubbs collecting the other two.

Cincinnati's Travis Wood (0-1) again pitched well with nothing to show for it. The 23-year-old is still seeking his first big-league win through four starts after holding Colorado to three hits and a run over six innings.

The rookie hurler walked four and struck out six coming off a near perfect game broken up in the ninth of an eventual 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Phillies.

The Reds had a chance to tie it in the ninth after Stubbs singled off Huston Street with one away and Ryan Hanigan fisted a pinch-hit single into shallow center to leave runners at the corners.

Chris Heisey chased a slider off the plate for the second out and Street retired Brandon Phillips on three effective sliders to end the dramatics and stay perfect on the year in save chances with his sixth.

Wood's only mistake came in the sixth with two out as Iannetta pulled a 2-2 changeup over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie. Cook retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced before giving way to Joe Beimel in the eighth.

Beimel got Joey Votto to ground out and Rafael Betancourt came on for the final two outs, inducing a pop fly from Laynce Nix to end the inning after an 11-pitch at-bat.

The Reds bullpen kept them in the game for a chance to tie the game in the later innings as Nick Masset and Arthur Rhodes fired a pair of clean frames in relief of Wood. Logan Ondrusek gave up a two-out single to Clint Barmes in the ninth, but Bill Bray entered and got pinch-hitter Seth Smith to foul out behind home plate.

Cincinnati had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but failed to get a run home.

Nix struck out with runners at first and third in the first inning and Wood grounded out to strand a runner at third in the second. The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in their next at-bat, but Miguel Cairo grounded out to end the threat. Cook got another ground ball out from Phillips in the fourth to leave a runner at second.

Game Notes

Cook is 3-0 in nine lifetime meetings with the Reds...Wood lowered his earned run average to 2.02 in his first appearance in Cincinnati...The Rockies broke a three-game losing streak...The Reds have lost five of seven games overall...A pair of Rockies' hitting streaks went by the wayside Sunday with Jonathan Herrera's ending at 13 games and Carlos Gonzalez's snapped at 10 games...Reds third baseman Scott Rolen sat for a second straight game due to illness. In addition, outfielder Jay Bruce was given the day off...Cincinnati finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

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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.