Brewers use big inning to take 2-0 series lead

Baseball Betting Lines

10/02/2011 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two walks, a balk and a throwing error opened the door to a big sixth inning, and the Brewers capitalized in a big way Sunday.

Corey Hart, Nyjer Morgan and Ryan Braun had consecutive base hits that accounted for four of Milwaukee's five runs in the pivotal inning, boosting the Brewers to 9-4 win and a commanding lead over Arizona after two games of their National League Division Series. The other run, the tie-breaker, came on a squeeze bunt from Jonathan Lucroy.

Braun went 3-for-4 with three RBI, including a homer in the opening inning off Daniel Hudson.

"We did some really good things offensively today," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "That's a type game where you feel like offensively you're going to keep scoring runs and hopefully because of it, it builds the confidence in the whole lineup, because they all came through today."

The Brewers are one win away from advancing to their first championship series since 1982, when they beat the Angels in the ALCS before falling to St. Louis in the World Series.

Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Young and Justin Upton all went deep off Zack Greinke, but it wasn't enough for the Diamondbacks, who will try to stay alive in Game 3 of this best-of-five series Tuesday at Arizona. First pitch is 9:37 p.m. (et).

"We have hope," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "We're going to go to our environment now. We played better at home just as well as the Brewers have."

The Diamondbacks used four pitchers in the sixth inning, when the Brewers sent 10 men to the plate to break a 4-4 tie. Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled with one out. Brad Ziegler then replaced Hudson (0-1) but was called for a balk, and Yuniesky Betancourt walked to set the stage for Lucroy, who put down a bunt toward first base.

Ziegler jumped off the mound, pounced on the ball and shoveled it to home plate, but the throw went past catcher Miguel Montero, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

"Lucroy's done it several times," Gibson said of the bunt. "It happens all around the league. It's just an excitable moment. I thought [Ziegler] was going to tag him at first. He obviously thought he had a chance at it."

Pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay was intentionally walked before Hart lined a single to center on a first pitch for a 6-4 difference. On the very next pitch, Morgan laced a hit to right-center to plate two more. Only two pitches later, Braun capped the outburst with another RBI single, this one to center.

Joe Paterson and Bryan Shaw had to finish the inning on the mound for the Diamondbacks, who never recovered despite putting two men on base in each of the final three innings.

Montero lined out to pitcher LaTroy Hawkins to end the top of the seventh. Francisco Rodriguez struck out pinch-hitter Geoff Blum to cap the eighth and John Axford fanned Goldschmidt to end the contest.

Greinke, who was making his first playoff appearance and had gone unbeaten at home during the 2011 season, allowed eight hits and four runs while fanning seven batters. Greinke, who was pitching on three days' rest, was replaced by Takashi Saito (1-0) for the sixth inning. Chris Young doubled with one out in the frame, but was left stranded when Gerardo Parra struck out.

Before that, the Brewers bolted to an early lead. Hart singled to start the bottom of the first, and Braun homered to center with one out.

"The main thing with Braun is this year he's been consistent the whole time, the whole season he's put good at-bats," Greinke said. "I don't know if he's even been in a slump like maybe a three-game slump or something. But all year long he's been consistent."

Goldschmidt led off the second with a blast over the wall in right-center, but the Brewers got three straight hits in the third to extend their lead to 4-1. Braun doubled to right, Prince Fielder singled to center and Rickie Weeks hit a one-hop triple off the wall in center.

Young homered to center with one out in the fourth, and Upton went deep with Aaron Hill aboard in the fifth.

Game Notes

Hudson was charged with nine hits and five runs over 5 1/3 innings. He also had six strikeouts...Arizona went 0-for-10 with men in scoring position and left 10 on base...Shaun Marcum is expected to start Game 3 for Milwaukee, while rookie Josh Collmenter pitches for Arizona...Hill doubled off the wall, right off the line in left field in the first inning for a supposed double. However, left field umpire James Hoye ruled foul. Hill returned to the plate then singled, but was left stranded.

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How to bet pro football

There is little doubt that the NFL is where the sportsbooks see the most action and also make the most loot. The NFL possesses betting friendly attributes that are unlike any of the other major sports. First off, there are relatively few teams to keep track of in comparison to college football betting or college basketball. And second, these teams play only once a week which makes staying on top of the results much easier than it is in the daily leagues such as the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

These dynamics, along with the sheer excitement of watching and wagering on football, brings more square action to the table than any of the other sports. Almost every Tom, Dick and Harry in America is an NFL expert in their own mind and that is precisely what the oddsmakers prey upon.

Understanding who bets the games is just as important as understanding which teams are playing the games. The market at times will dictate price, which in the betting world means the oddsmakers cater to the public rather than reality.

Knowing the market inside and out is the basis of our NFL handicapping model. That is, our approach to NFL handicapping is of the contrarian or value seeking variety. We will at times place a higher premium on public sentiment than on the fundamentals. This strategy dictates playing dogs and/or lesser competent teams, or teams the public wants nothing to do with. Or better yet, fading the teams the oddsmakers want you to bet on.

Along these same lines, we carry a similar notion that the first week of the NFL season presents one of the ripest opportunities for the astute gambler. This conflicts with conventional wisdom and/or handicapping lore, as most would say it is better to watch a few games and assess each team before jumping in with both feet. That’s all fine and dandy, but there are some interesting trends to exploit in Week 1 and we’d be remiss to ignore them. Let us quickly explain.

Gone are the days of dynasties, where the same core players stay intact and dominate the league year after year. Free agency and player movements can completely transform teams from one season to the next. In today’s parity-driven NFL, poor teams typically don’t stay poor for all that long and excellent teams must constantly reinvent themselves to stay on top.

The temptation might be to assume prior year results are the best indicator of who is going to cover in Week 1. To Joe Public, playoff teams from the prior season, home teams, favorites, and so one, look even more enticing than usual since there is no current season performance to judge them against. But the question begs: are the oddsmakers setting a trap?

To find the answer, we culled five years worth of Week 1 NFL data. As always, all of our analysis is done from an ATS perspective. The purpose here is to share the most important angles we unearthed and try to explain the logic behind them. So strap on your helmet, throw on your shoulder pads, and follow our lead as we expose some rare holes in the oddsmakers’ line of defense.

Home vs. Away Teams

Over the past five seasons, NFL home teams in Week 1 are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). This of course implies that roadies are a 58 percent winning proposition during this time. The public at large has a tendency to overvalue home teams and this is especially true in Week 1 when there is no current season data to make predictions from. Consequently, the oddsmakers almost surely shade the home teams, by and large making road teams the choice for the value player.

Conclusion: Look long and hard at road teams first when handicapping the opening week.

Price ranges

Favorites are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent) in the opening week over the past five NFL seasons (Coincidentally, home teams hold the same ATS record as noted above). This means that underdogs bark at a 58 percent clip. Mid-range favorites performed the worst among our specified price ranges. In particular, favorites priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 are only 8-15 ATS (35 percent) during this time.

The same basic pattern holds true when looking at home favorites (road favorites gravitate towards a 50 percent mean). Home favorites indeed are just 21-32-3 ATS (40 percent) in the first week of NFL action since 1999. Again, mid-range favorites are similarly the poorest performers when we look at home teams. Consider that home teams priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 have stumbled to a 6-13 ATS (32 percent) mark in Week 1 games the past five seasons.

Conclusion: Like home teams, favorites and particularly mid-range favorites are generally overvalued in Week 1.

Playoff teams

It might surprise you to learn that playoff teams from the prior year versus non-playoff teams from the prior year are a mere 16-23-3 (41 percent) ATS in NFL Week 1 games over the past five seasons. Home teams which made the playoffs versus teams which did not make the playoffs from the prior season drop to a meager 7-14-1 ATS (33 percent) during this time.

Why are playoff teams, and in particular those at home, such bad bets the past five openers? Just as the case with home teams and with favorites, oddsmakers intentionally overprice playoff teams in the opening week to compensate for the public’s propensity to over bet them.

This theory holds true just looking at straight-up records from the past season as well. That is, home teams with winning records from the prior season vs. road teams with losing records from the prior season are just 8-13 ATS in Week 1 NFL games since 1999.

Conclusion: Playoff teams from the prior year and in particular, home playoff teams, are overvalued in Week 1 NFL games.

Scoring defense and scoring offense

Do good defenses and for that matter good offenses from the prior season fare better against the number the following year in Week 1 games? Well, sort of. Generally speaking, teams with a solid offense or defense from the prior season tend to do well in the opening week so long as they are on the road. As a host, however, the best offenses and best defenses from the prior year tend to be overvalued in Week 1.

Consider that the top five scoring defenses (i.e. points allowed) from the prior season are a nice 8-4 ATS (66 percent) on the road in NFL openers the past five seasons. Meanwhile, the top five scoring defenses from the prior season are just 3-8-2 ATS (27 percent) as a host in Week 1 during the same time period.

There is no discernable advantage or disadvantage for teams with a top five scoring offense (i.e. points scored) in Week 1 games. However, when we look at scoring offenses from the bottom up (isolating the five worst offenses from the prior season), the results are rather interesting. In particular, teams ranked in the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are 9-4-1 ATS (69 percent) when on the road in Week 1.

The logic is simply that the public perception is a poor scoring offensive unit from the year prior will have little chance of winning on the road in Week 1. In turn, the oddsmakers compensate for this perception and these poor offensive teams from the year prior carry extra line value on the Week 1 trail.

Conclusion: Teams with top-ranked defenses from the previous season are good bets when playing on the road, but poor bets when playing at home. Also, teams ranked among the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are generally a good value in their Week 1 openers, provided they are playing on the road.

Scoring margin

An exceedingly straightforward way of measuring scoring offense and scoring defense together as a whole is to look at a team's “margin." Margin is simply scoring offense minus scoring defense, which is a fairly clear-cut measure of how a team does on both sides of the ball. Typically, the higher the margin, the better the team.

In this regard, it might seem counterintuitive that teams carrying the higher margin from the prior season in week one matchups are merely 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). Furthermore, road teams with the higher margin are 14-20-6 ATS (41 percent), while home teams with the higher margin are 17-22-1 ATS (44 percent). Once again, these results line up with the theory that better teams from the prior year are overvalued come opening day of the following season.

Conclusion: “Better” teams, which often boast a higher margin than their opponent, are overvalued the following season in NFL openers.

In sum

Oddsmakers cater NFL betting lines to match public perception and also to bait the public into poor bets. The temptation to use the prior year’s success as a buy sign for how a team will perform against the spread in Week 1 of the following season is an enormous trap.

The fact is, isolating road teams, road dogs, non-playoff teams vs. playoff teams, teams with a losing record or low margin vs. playoff teams or ones with a high margin from the previous year is where the line value resides. Quite simply, taking the road less traveled is your surest path to NFL betting profits.

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