11/20/2008 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina, as expected, retired on Thursday after 18 seasons in the major leagues.
Reports circulated on Wednesday that Mussina had decided to call it quits after the first 20-win campaign of his illustrious career. He finished the 2008 season with a record of 20-9 and a 3.37 earned run average in 34 starts for the Yankees, and was awarded his seventh Gold Glove.
At age 39, Mussina became the oldest pitcher in baseball history to record 20 wins in a season for the first time in his career. Jamie Moyer held the previous mark with his first 20-win season in 2001 at age 38.
Mussina's 2,813 career strikeouts ranks sixth among active pitchers and 19th on the all-time list. The first-round pick of the Orioles in 1990 completed his career with a 270-153 record and a 3.68 ERA. His .638 career winning percentage is sixth-best all-time among pitchers who made at least 500 career starts, and his 270 victories ties him with Burleigh Grimes for 32nd place on the all-time list.
Mussina has pitched his whole career in the American League East -- the last eight seasons with the Yankees and the first 10 of his career with the Baltimore Orioles. Signed as a free agent by the Yankees prior to the 2001 season, Mussina compiled a record of 123-72 with a 3.88 ERA in eight seasons with New York. No American League pitcher has recorded more wins during that time period, and Mussina's 1,278 strikeouts while with the Yankees ranks sixth on the club's all-time list.
He won 15 games in a season 11 times during his career, and six times placed in the top five for Cy Young Award voting, though he never won it. Mussina ostensibly came to New York with the hope of winning a World Series in mind, joining the club after the last of its three straight titles from 1998-2000, but he never did get a ring.
The Yankees made two World Series appearances during his tenure, but both were losses -- in 2001 to Arizona and in 2003 to Florida. Mussina finished his career with a 7-8 playoff record and a 3.42 postseason ERA.
Mussina, a native of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, was known for his control, and walked only 785 batters in 3,562 2/3 career innings, a ratio of 1.98 walks per nine innings pitched. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mussina is one of only three pitchers in MLB history to throw at least 3,000 innings and hold opponents to fewer than two walks per nine innings pitched, joining Jack Quinn and Cy Young.
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<< Is Mussina a Hall of Famer?
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The worst-kept secret in baseball started to leak out on
Wednesday, when it was revealed that right-hander Mike Mussina was indeed
going to hang up his spikes after 18 seasons.
The news certainly comes as no shock, as the
<< Flames, Avs cap home-and-home in Denver
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The Flames h
<< Steelers Look to Knock Out Last-Place Bengals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers will look to remain above the fray
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Broncos put TE Jackson on IR, sign Mustard >>
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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.
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