When I opened up my sports book to the baseball wagering page, one play in particular jumped out at me. The younger version of myself would have seen the line and put all my money down on one of the sides of that game. But the older version of me...the me who I am today...has built in (overtime) defense mechanisms to avoid the bad gambling habits of my young self. The line that basically poked me in the eye was: Philadelphia -135. I knew that Halladay was scheduled to pitch for Philadelphia, so a red flag went off in my head immediately. The younger me would have seen the -135, remembered Halladay was pitching,put down an entire bankroll, and brag to my friends that I had the lock of the decade. But the older version saw the red flags and stopped myself from pulling the trigger on the Phillies. I started to investigate this intangible red flag. Why was Doc Halladay, one of the all time great pitchers, and having another fantastic year, such a cheap favorite tonight. I can not recall him ever being so cheap. Furthermore, why were the suddenly smoking hot, defending National League Champions, the power house Phillies only a -135 favorite? And more and more questions popped into my old mind. Didn't the Phillies just sweep the National League West leading Padres IN San Diego? Aren't the Phillies 100% healthy again, now that Utley and Howard are back in their lineup? So why are they not -175 favorites with Doc Halladay on the mound? So I thought to myself; maybe they are only -135 favorites because they have to travel, or because they are facing another playoff contender, with a great pitcher on the hill. But lo and behold I did some further research and found out that they were facing the Dodgers. The Dodgers that played in Los Angeles. So there was no travel at all. San Diego to Los Angeles isnt a real commute. So I checked to see who was scheduled to start for the Dodgers. It had to be their superstar young phenom, Clayton Kershaw, right? Thats why Halladay and the Phillies were only -135 favorites. That HAD to be the reason, right? No. Kershaw was not starting this game. And it wasn't even Ted Lilly starting. It was Hiroki Kuroda, a solid, yet not spectacular pitcher. So it had to be something else that warranted the Phillies to only be -135 favorites. I bet the Dodgers are right there in the playoff hunt. They must be red-hot. Right? Had to be! But lo and behold, to my amazement they Dodgers are falling out of the race pretty fast and are on a 2 game losing streak. Furthermore, the Dodgers just traded away one of the best right handed bats of all time, in Manny Ramirez, thus basically showing the world that they were giving up on the 2010 season. So I was forced to ask for the final time, Why the hell are the Phillies only a -135 favorite? And the only answer the "older" me could come up with was: DODGERS +125.
Good luck to everyone tonight with all your action. May all your wagers be winners. Well, unless of course, you are wagering on the Phillies.
Good luck to everyone tonight with all your action. May all your wagers be winners. Well, unless of course, you are wagering on the Phillies.