Astros sign Hernandez to minor league deal

Baseball Betting Lines

01/31/2012 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros signed veteran pitcher Livan Hernandez to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training Tuesday.

The 36-year-old spent the last season with the Washington Nationals, recording an 8-13 record with a 4.47 ERA in 29 starts.

In 475 appearances -- 474 starts -- with the Marlins, Giants, Expos/Nationals, Diamondbacks, Twins, Rockies and Mets, Hernandez has a career 174-176 record and 4.39 earned run average with 50 complete games and nine shutouts.

The 16-year veteran has not recorded a winning season since 2008, when he finished with a 13-11 mark after splitting the year between Minnesota and Colorado.

Wnorthernlight Baseball Betting News

<< Arsenal completes deal for Eisfeld
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal completed the signing of midfielder Thomas Eisfeld from German side Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Eisfeld, 19, had six goals and six assists for Dortmund's Under-19 squad this season. He has been i

<< Benfica signs forward Djalo
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benfica signed forward Yannick Djalo on a 4 1/2-year deal Tuesday. Djalo, 25, had been out of contract since the summer, but joins the Portuguese leaders for the second half of the season. He played for S

<< FC Porto acquires Lucho, Janko
Porto, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Porto acquired Lucho Gonzalez and Marc Janko on Tuesday, as the Portuguese giants added a pair of reinforcements just days after its first loss of the season. Lucho, 31, previously spent four seasons a

<< Manning's 1st QB coach hired as Colts OC
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts have continued the rebuilding of their coaching staff by bringing back Peyton Manning's first NFL quarterbacks coach. Bruce Arians, who coached the Colts' quarterbacks from 1998-200

<< Timbers acquire midfielder Renken
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers acquired midfielder and U.S. youth international Charles Renken off MLS waivers Tuesday. Renken, 18, has been a member of U.S. youth national teams since 2005 and most recently participa

Padres avoid arbitration with Moseley >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have agreed to a one- year contract with pitcher Dustin Moseley, avoiding arbitration in the process. Moseley, 30, went 3-10 last season with a 3.30 earned run average and 64 s

Blackburn signs defender Orr from QPR >>
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blackburn beat the deadline Tuesday to make its third January addition, as Bradley Orr was acquired from QPR on a 2 1/2-year deal. Blackburn previously signed Anthony Modeste and Marcus Olsson, and O

West Brom adds Andrews from Blackburn >>
West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich acquired midfielder Keith Andrews from Blackburn on Tuesday on a free transfer and signed him to a deal through the end of the current season. Andrews, 31, made 76 appearances an

Sunderland snaps up Kyrgiakos from Wolfsburg >>
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland signed defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos from Wolfsburg on Tuesday on loan for the rest of the season. Kyrgiakos, 32, previously played with Liverpool and made 30 appearances in the Premier Lea

Crosby has soft tissue damage in neck >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has a soft tissue injury in his neck, but an independent specialist found no evidence of a past or present neck fracture, the team said Tuesday. The news came

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.