Hands way off the panic button

Young starters prompt speculation, frustration and hope

Well, it's official: Oliver Perez stinks and the Mets are done.

They just don't have the pitching.

In the past few days, I've had countless discussions with smart baseball fans who think the Mets' shaky rotation will prevent them from competing in their division. The starting pitchers after Johan Santana, riddled with question marks when Dan Graziano and Sam Borden debated their merits on this site a couple of weeks ago, have since been relabeled an all-out disaster.

Mike Pelfrey, for one, will fall victim to the Verducci Effect. Nevermind that he, as a 6-foot-7 beast of a Kansan who throws very few breaking balls, doesn't profile as the typical Year-After casualty, or that there's plenty of evidence to counter the phenomenon's very existence. Verducci said he's at risk. Heck, I said he's "no safe bet". And his Wednesday start was bad. So write him off. Read More

Baseball payrolls drop by $47 million

NEW YORK (AP) — The recession has hit baseball salaries.

Teams cut payrolls for their active rosters and disabled lists by $47 million from opening day in 2008 to the first day of this season, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. That comes out to a drop of 1.7 percent.

"Clubs were cautious all winter with regards to the economy and were concerned the economy might have an impact on club revenue," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "The spending reflected that for many clubs."

The drop is the first since 2004 and just the second since the 1994-95 strike.

Looking at payroll team by team, 16 of the 30 major league clubs cut payroll. Among those who lowered spending — the mighty New York Yankees.

While the Yankees led the major leagues with a $201.4 million payroll, they trimmed salaries by $7.6 million from the start of last season. The difference is that while they added high-priced free agents CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, they also let Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu and Carl Pavano leave, watched Mike Mussina retire and more than halved pitcher Andy Pettitte's guaranteed pay.

Others cut more, led by San Diego ($30.9 million), the Chicago White Sox ($25.1 million), Detroit ($23.6 million) and Seattle ($19.1 million).

The 14 who increased salaries were led by AL champion Tampa Bay ($19.5 million), the Chicago Cubs ($16.5 million), Florida ($15.0 million), and World Series champion Philadelphia ($14.7 million). More information

White Sox Opening Day: Baseball is back and we're OK with that

It's said there's no such thing as a bad day of fishing. That extends to a day at the ballpark, which we were fortunate enough to experience Tuesday afternoon.

Baseball is back. Thank God, baseball is back.

Since the sport last left us in October, a Sox fan became the nation's first African-American president, the economy spiraled further out of control and a Kevin James movie has become the highest grossing film so far of 2009.

It's certainly been an emotional few months. To say it's good to be have baseball back in our lives is like saying Jim Thome's eighth-inning, three-run home run was "neat." The return of baseball to Chicago is everything we deserve after enduring brutal wind-chill factors, freezing rain and ousted governors.
But that's not to say everything went smoothly at the Cell Tuesday afternoon.

As we took our seats in right-centerfield just in time to hear Chicago natives Matthew Santos and Lupe Fiasco provide an acoustic rendition of their hit song "Superstar," we quickly realized that not all U.S. Cellular employees were operating at mid-season form. It was amusing to see the Sox' promotional staff tackle their first between-inning segments with mixed levels of comfort. A beer vendor serving our section even went so far as to shush one beverage-seeker who dared draw his attention while he was handing someone else a brew. By mid-April these guys should have all the kinks worked out. Read more

Wet Sox Delayed

It looks like the Sox aren’t ready.

The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox will have their Opening Day games delayed due to rain and snow respectively.

The BoSox were scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Rays and will, hopefully, play tomorrow.

The ChiSox play the Kansas City Royals and will also pick up tomorrow, weather permitting of course.For more information check here

MLB Propositions 2009

Opening Day in Major League Baseball is quickly approaching and the sportsbetting.com is starting to gear up for a great 2009!

One of the best wagers that online bettors can place is on baseball propositions where getting odds on good teams, or in this case good pitchers, in proposition bets can really increase the yearly bankroll.

Let’s take a look at some of the best proposition bets available to gamblers in the pitching category.

Check out the MLB section for more.

Major League Baseball 2K9

If "Major League Baseball 2K9" (rated E, $60 on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, $50 on Wii) were a baseball player, it wouldn't be San Francisco Giants ace and cover athlete Tim Lincecum. It'd be the Oakland's Gio Gonzalez, a blue-chip prospect with a repertoire of filthy pitches, cursed with an inability to locate any of them inside the strike zone consistently.

The pitching controls, which require you to move the right thumbstick in a two-part motion corresponding with the type of pitch you want to throw, are a revelation. When I first saw that, to throw a curve with a right-handed pitcher, I needed to press the thumbstick down and to the left, then roll it counter-clockwise, I thought, "Gimmick!" But
after a few innings, the controls became second nature, and I found myself wondering why no one thought of this sooner.

The hitting controls, in which you rock back on the thumbstick, then push toward the pitcher to shift your batter's weight as the pitch arrives, are similarly intuitive. The timing is trickier to master than the pitching, because every pitcher throws at slightly different speeds and has a slightly different windup, but my experience with past "MLB 2K" titles served me well here. Sure, it's more challenging than just pressing "A" to swing the bat, but it's also a lot more fun once you get the hang of it.

As much of a joy as hitting and pitching are in 2K's game, it's plagued by problems the series has struggled with since "Major League Baseball 2K6" hit the 360 shortly after launch: an overabundance of home runs and woefully buggy fielding. After four years of homer mania, I'm convinced 2K prefers the MLB of 1998 and 2001, when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and others bashed home runs with extreme prejudice. And though I'm a fan of pitchers' duels and great defense, I've come to grips with it.

The fielding in "2K9," though, is a nadir for the series. How bad is it? First baseman are often totally disinterested in touching the bag for an out after hauling in a throw from a fellow infielder. The throw could be perfectly on line and arrive plenty early, but some unseen problem, maybe involving poor collision detection, means that far too many routine plays at first result in a throwing error charged to an infielder and an extra baserunner to deal with. Likewise, outfielders often play like Lucy in the "Peanuts" cartoons, failing to stick up their gloves to catch pop flies that land harmlessly next to them and roll to the wall for a triple. In one game, my squad made five errors, at least four of which were attributable to these two glitches.

Lastly, the catcher often seems unaware of runners about to cross the plate. I was able to execute a triple steal twice in the same game because Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit simply stood upright and held onto the ball after receiving pitches, allowing whatever runner was on third to slide harmlessly into the plate. He didn't even bend over and half-heartedly reach for the guy.

The inclusion of a playoff mode is similarly half-baked. Yes, it's great to skip the regular season and go straight to the postseason, but why force players to use last year's playoff brackets for a game called "MLB 2K9?" If my die-hard Royals fan friend Steve wants to live the dream and pit Kansas City against the Yankees in the postseason, he should be able to. The decision to force players to use last year's playoff brackets is more galling once you choose your team and begin play, only to realize that you're playing last season's playoff games with current rosters. Want to defy history and pitch the Brewers to
the World Series using Vallejo native CC Sabathia's golden (and beefy) arm? Too bad. He was a Brewer last year. He's on the Yankees now.

Another feature, using 2K Beats to set players' at-bat music similarly falls flat. Once I navigate to the screen that allows me to set playlists for individual players, I get an error message telling me, "You must have soundtracks saved to your Xbox 360 in order to customize events." I'm not sure what that means, but I have 100 or so music tracks saved to my 360's hard drive. Why can't I use those? Sadly, the game's manual doesn't mention this feature at all. I looked for help in "2K9's" online frequently asked questions page, but the page contained no questions, let alone answers.

My last gripe about the game is its alleged abilities to provide updated scores for real-life sporting events. The supposedly "live" scores don't update while you're playing. If the Warriors are down 76-74 to the Utah Jazz in the third quarter when the first pitch is thrown, they'll still be down 76-74 in the 14th inning if your game goes extras. What's more, I played "2K9" extensively during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and none of these scores appeared in the ticker, even though I'd set "show NCAAB items" to "on." When I tried to check the scores, it just said, "There are no games available for this sport." On the first day of college basketball's big event? Inexcusable. Similarly, why can't I see spring training scores and stats?

I can only guess as to whether so many of "2K9's" features feel half-finished because Visual Concepts' programmers were distracted by having to develop this game and "MLB Front Office Manager," which released in February, simultaneously. If that's the case, hopefully they'll can the sub-par "Front Office Manager" next year, roll its features into "MLB 2K10" and make a better core game.

Ordinarily, I'd be willing to forgive some of these shortcomings, revel in the brilliant pitching and hitting controls and say, "2K'll get 'em next year." But, like Pittsburgh Pirates fans, gamers are surely tired of shelling out $60 each year, only to be let down again. If you're gaming on a Sony console, lean toward "The Show," which I'll review next week. If you're on the 360 or Wii, see if you can score "2K9" at a discount.

Bettors cash in on baseball's winning hand

Spring is in the air and a sports bettor’s fancy next week turns to baseball.

Although, the game is the least bet of the three major sports, it has held its own in Nevada sports books in recent years, and its followers are the most dedicated of all sports bettors.

Last year, about $522 million was bet on baseball in the state’s sports books, less than half the $1.2 billion bet on football, and a third less than the $740 million bet on basketball. Yet, the amount has increased 13 percent over the last four years, despite the slumping economy.

But most important to bettors, the house edge was only 4.5 percent, meaning 95.5 percent of every bet was returned to players.

The house edge or "hold" on baseball is less than any other sport, much to the delight of bettors and the dismay of bookies.

"It’s the only sport where I consistently win," said Franklin Purdy, a 55-year bettor who favors the "locals" casinos in Las Vegas. "I’m a bit of a statistics freak, and the game can be beaten if you invest the time and effort."

Indeed, baseball is a statistician’s heaven. No other sport is so deeply entrenched in an endless stream of stats, such as ERAs, on-base percentages, team averages, strike-outs to walks ratios, to name a few.

"One of the beauties of the game is you can miss it on TV but get a thorough recap from the box score," Purdy said. "And with games scheduled virtually every day, it’s impossible to watch every contest."

Purdy acknowledges the game might not be as exciting or emotional as football or basketball, but from a betting standpoint, teams more closely follow form, unlike, say, football.

"It’s the only sport where the defense controls the ball, with no time clocks or freak plays or whistle-happy referees to make a farce of the outcome," Purdy said. "As a result, you can count on favorites winning more than 60 percent of the time."

The sheer volume of games – nearly 2,500 over the course of the season – ensures plenty of action for players.

Moreover, bettors don’t have to deal with a point spread. The money-line or odds bets means picking the winning team equates to a winning bet.

The money line is a decimal equivalent of betting odds. For instance, if a team has odds of 2-1, its money line equivalent would be +200. In either case a bet of $1 wins $2 for a total return of $3.

Conversely, a team with odds of 1-2 has a money line of –200, which would pay $1 for every $2 bet, also for a return of $3.

Other examples of the relationship between odds and the money line include: a team with 8-5 odds has a money line of +160, while one at odds of 5-8 would be –160; teams at 9-5 are +180, while those at 5-9 would be –180.

Sharp-eyed readers with a talent for math by now realize that the money line is simply a decimal expression of the odds ratio. That is, odds of 8-5 means you win 8 for every 5 bet, and that ratio, 8:5, equates to a decimal equivalent of 1.60 (or 1.6 to 1). The converse, however, odds of 5-8 is expressed as a negative –160, rather than the actual decimal equivalent of 5:8, or 0.625.

Obviously, betting favorites with less than even money odds can be expensive. In fact, it’s possible to win two out of three such bets and simply break even.

Thus, there are legions of baseball bettors who either bet underdogs (with a "plus" money line), or lower priced favorites, whose money lines are less than –150.

Following guidelines such as the favorite/underdog money line rule is an example of the plethora of trends that baseball bettors embrace.

Home underdogs, first-time starters, pitching rematches, returning from layoffs, road favorites off a loss – these are just a few of the dozens of trends that help shape baseball betting decisions.

"One of the best trends is catching a team on a winning or losing streak," Purdy said. "At any given point in the season, you’ll find at least one time in the midst of a 10-game streak … that’s a lot of winning bets if you can get in on it early."

That’s the key – identifying a winning trend and betting on it.

In the end, Purdy says baseball is a good arena to exercise handicapping and betting talents.

"If you can control yourself and ignore ridiculous hype and other influences, baseball can be your most profitable sport of choice," he said. "It’s proven to be mine."