Padres extend manager Black's contract

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres announced Monday that they have extended manager Bud Black's contract through the 2013 season with club options for the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.

"I am really happy to announce that the Padres have reached an agreement on a well-deserved contract extension for Bud Black," said Padres general manager Jed Hoyer. "This news comes at time when the team is playing well, but my faith in Bud goes far beyond wins and losses. He and his staff are exceptionally well prepared, he embraces the challenge of teaching young players and, most importantly, the players compete for him every night."

San Diego currently resides atop the National League West with the best record in the circuit at 54-37 and holds a four-game lead on the Colorado Rockies.

The 53-year-old Black took over the Padres in 2007 and steered the team to an 89-74 mark in a season that ended with a dramatic, 9-8, 13-inning loss to the Rockies in a one-game playoff to decide the National League wild card. The 89 wins were the most for the team since a franchise-record 98-victory campaign in 1998 that resulted in a division title and World Series appearance.

During his three-plus seasons at the helm, Black has led San Diego to an overall mark of 281-297.

He had spent seven seasons as the pitching coach for the Angels, including the 2002 World Series championship year, before earning his first shot at a managerial job. Black had also spent three seasons (1996-97, 1999) as a special assistant to then-Cleveland Indians general manager John Hart.

Black posted a 121-116 record with a 3.84 ERA in 398 games (296 starts) over a 15-year career with Seattle, Kansas City, Cleveland, Toronto and San Francisco. The left-hander was also a member of the Kansas City Royals' 1985 World Series title team.

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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.