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Thursday, October 22Game Score Status Pick Amount
Florida State - 8:00 PM ET Florida State +2.5 500 *****
North Carolina - Under 48 500 *****
ACC Encounter for Bettors Only
The two biggest disappoints in the ACC this season have been Florida State (2-4, 1-5 ATS) and North Carolina (4-2, 2-3 ATS). Both team were improved last season with many positive signs and were expected to compete for the right to play in ACC championship game in 2009. Instead, ESPN has one of its worst dud games on a Thursday night it has had in years. Each of the Atlantic Coast Conference teams currently resides in the basement of their respective teams, talk about a need for flex scheduling!
Florida State’s bizarre season continues to become stranger as it goes along. The season started with the cloud over coach Bobby Bowden, being stripped of wins in his pursuit of Joe Paterno as the winningest coach in D-1 or FBS history. The exciting 38-34 loss to Miami in the opener was harbinger of defensive issues not wholly recognizable at the time.
A fourth quarter come from behind 19-9 win against FCS Jacksonville State was masked with impressive 54-28 win over then previously unbeaten BYU. That is where the rubber met the road. The Seminoles have not won since, losing three times and the defense has been scorched for 30.5 points per game in their four trips to the gridiron.
Several people are calling for Bobby Bowden to step down while others are saying leave him alone and let him decide when the time is right. What is another peculiar aspect in Florida State’s season are Bowden’s comments leading up this contest.
“I’m disappointed with the losses and yet we’ve done some good things. We’ve done something this year that we haven’t done before,” Bowden said. “Our offense against BYU took the ball and scored the first seven times they got the ball. Then against Georgia Tech, we took the ball and scored the first five times we got the ball.
“But defensively, we’ve had a hard time stopping the big play. We’ll go out there and stop a team, and stop a team, and stop a team and then whoop. So if they ever get that squared away we’ll be a pretty good ballclub.
“Another thing is, nobody’s crushed us. We haven’t been blown out. We’ve been right down to the wire with everybody, which maybe with one play less for them or one play more for us, we could be up at the top.”
Coach Bowden putting positive spin on losing season, what is next Glenn Beck and Keith Olberman become dining partners? At least the Noles are 27-11 ATS after two or more consecutive losses against the spread.
North Carolina has been done in by anemic offense. The Tar Heels rank No. 101 in rushing, No. 103 in passing, which ends up totaling 282.2 yards per game, 117th in total offense. Take away the wins against FCS Georgia Southern and The Citadel and North Carolina is the worst offensive team in the country. Subtract those two games and the Tar Heels are averaging 59.7 yards per game on the ground.
With no running game and QB T.J. Yates being rushed continually when dropping back to pass, and never in sync with receivers, the offense has scored 12 or fewer points three times on the year. UNC also averages almost three turnovers a game and is 12-26 ATS at home after playing a non-conference tilt.
Despite no offensive support, the Tar Heels stop troops rank third in the country in total defense at 237.7 yards per game. The numbers are somewhat misleading based on competition; however they would still be in the Top 20 defensively if just the four FBS teams were counted.
Bookmaker.com has North Carolina as 2.5-point favorites with total of 48 in the first ever Thursday-night televised home game for the Tar Heels in school history. The Heels are 6-2 with 3-5 ATS in last eight weekday games. They are 1-14-1 against Florida State, with 8-8 ATS mark and 7-0 ATS after leading in their previous game by 24 or more points at the half.
If the Seminoles defense can’t get healthy against this offense, there is no hope for the season. Florida State is 9-4 ATS as an underdog since 2005 (includes bowls), yet 4-13 ATS in road games against teams who commit 2.5 or more turnovers a game.
The Worldwide Leader has this ACC clash at 7:45 Eastern and will undoubtedly make reference to Florida State having never lost four in a row with Bobby Bowden patrolling the sidelines. Including Labor Day loss, the Noles are 0-5 ATS on weekdays.
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Thursday, October 22Game Score Status Pick Amount
NY Yankees - 7:57 PM ET LA Angels -111 500
LA Angels - Under 8.5 500
Yankees one game away from Fall Classic return
When Derek Jeter recalls the last time the New York Yankees got this close to the World Series, he gets chills down his spine that have nothing to do with the cold he’s fighting. “If you have the opportunity to get something over with, you’d like to do it,” the New York captain said. “It’s not always going to happen.”
Although the Yankees have a strong record in potential closeout playoff games over their peerless history, the 2004 AL championship series is a prodigious hole in their reputation that only a record 40th AL pennant could begin to cover. Up 3-0, New York lost four straight to the Boston Red Sox in an unprecedented collapse, and the Yankees hadn’t been that close to the World Series since—until now.
They get the first of three shots at a closeout victory over the struggling Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday night, with A.J. Burnett (13-9, team 23-12 all starts) facing Los Angeles ace John Lackey (12-9, team 15-14 all starts).
After half a decade and several hundred million dollars’ worth of premium free-agent shopping, most of the Yankees who have rolled through six wins in their first seven postseason games this fall don’t share Jeter’s memories of 2004. Manager Joe Girardi understands the history, but prefers to focus on the future.
“There’s a lot of different faces,” Girardi said. “You look at our rotation, CC (Sabathia) wasn’t here, A.J. wasn’t here. You look at the bullpen, and I believe Mo (Mariano Rivera) was the only guy that was here. It’s a different scenario, but we understand who the Angels are.” Girardi also understands having a rested pen with Rivera as the last line of defense is a superior option given his team is 20-6 when non-starters pitched one inning or less in last game.
Before a light workout at sun-kissed Angel Stadium on Wednesday, Girardi and the Yankees were modest about their chances of getting that last win and steaming back onto baseball’s biggest stage after a six-year absence. Their play in this postseason so far has done all their bragging for them.
With big-money newcomers Sabathia and Burnett joining Andy Pettitte in a dynamite three-man rotation (Yanks 40-12 after allowing two or less runs), backed by 2004 survivor Alex Rodriguez leading the offense, the current Yankees have shown no indication of slowing down.
After they missed the playoffs last fall for the first time in Jeter’s era, the Yankees have racked up baseball’s best record before rolling to the brink of a pennant against the Angels, who were second-best behind New York in the regular-season standings as well.
“Well, any time you can add the top three free agents, it’s going to be better,” outfielder Johnny Damon deadpanned. “(Sabathia, Burnett and Mark Teixeira) took us from missing the playoffs by six games last year to being pretty dominant.”
The Yankees have held a 3-1 lead in an ALCS six times since Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Jorge Posada joined the roster in the mid-1990s. New York closed it out immediately three times, waited for the sixth game once—and then there was 2004 and New York is 51-19 off a victory.
But these Yankees are well positioned to capitalize on their three chances to finish off Los Angeles. Nothing in the ALCS to date suggests the Yankees’ pitchers will have much trouble with the Angels, whose normally productive lineup is batting .201 against New York.
After a 10-1 rout in Game 4, it’s also tough to imagine New York’s sluggers slowing down. Rodriguez, Jeter and Posada are in the midst of outstanding postseasons, and the Yankees have 14 homers among their 67 hits in seven playoff games.
“It’s like every day, you’re looking to somebody to your right or left and saying, ‘Do you believe this guy?”’ Burnett said. “‘I mean, have you ever seen a guy like this guy?’ That’s a handful of guys on this team. I’ve played with some good players, but it’s like the guys on this squad, when the stage gets bigger and the situation gets bigger, they perform better. It never ceases to amaze me what can happen.”
Six of 28 teams in the Angels’ position have rallied from a 3-1 deficit in a league championship series—most recently in 2007, when the Boston Red Sox came back against Sabathia and Cleveland on the way to a title. Including the World Series, 11 of 69 teams that fell into a 3-1 hole have made the comeback.
“The mountain is big, period,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. “But we know baseball can turn around at any time. … We’ve been wanting that since our first game (against the Yankees). We haven’t quite got there yet, but it’s getting late. That bell is about to ring, so it’s time to get it done.” The lone remaining Los Angeles team is 16-5 after a game where the bullpen was hit hard for four or more runs this season.
Pitching hasn’t been the Angels’ biggest woe, even given the Yankees’ 10-run outburst in Game 3, which only got out of hand in the late innings. Los Angeles can’t hit against the Yankees, scraping the Mendoza Line while scoring just 10 runs in the series’ 42 innings.
“We’re trying to do too much with runners in scoring position,” said Bobby Abreu, who’s batting .125 against his former team. “We’re trying to drive in runs no matter what, and sometimes we swing at bad pitches. Tomorrow (Thursday) is a tough situation for us.” Maybe the day off will cleanse the mind and the Halos are 11-4 with 48 hours between game starts.
Burnett is still looking for his first playoff victory despite pitching fairly well in his last two starts. He got a no-decision in Game 2 despite allowing just three hits and two runs while pitching into the seventh inning of a contest that eventually went 310 minutes and 13 innings.
“This is why I signed—the opportunity to pitch in the postseason,” said Burnett, who never pitched in the playoffs for Florida or Toronto. “The first year over here, I have an opportunity, so I’m taking full advantage of it.”
Bookmaker.com has the Angels as -115 money line favorites with total Ov8.5. Burnett is 33-14 when the total is 8.5 to 10 over the last two years. (Team's Record) His counterpart Lackey is 26-10 as a favorite of -110 to -150, but 6-14 if the opposing club has a winning record. (Team's Record)
The total in this ALCS has been a mixed bag with the Under 2-1-1 and Lackey and friends are 11-0 Under in postseason baseball.
FOX takes over from here out, having the rest of the baseball telecasts and Game 5 starts at 7:55 Eastern.
==============================================
Thursday, October 22Game Score Status Pick Amount
NY Islanders - 7:00 PM ET NY Islanders +162 500
Montreal - Over 5.5 500
New Jersey - 7:00 PM ET NY Rangers -145 500
NY Rangers - Over 5.5 500
Boston - 7:00 PM ET Philadelphia -170 500
Philadelphia - Under 5.5 500
Washington - 7:00 PM ET Atlanta +113 500 *****
Atlanta - Over 6 500 *****
Nashville - 7:30 PM ET Ottawa -201 500
Ottawa - Under 5.5 500 *****
San Jose - 7:30 PM ET San Jose -155 500
Tampa Bay - Over 5.5 500 *****
Columbus - 9:30 PM ET Edmonton -128 500
Edmonton - Over 5.5 500
Detroit - 10:00 PM ET Phoenix +107 500 *****
Phoenix - Over 5.5 500 *****
Dallas - 10:30 PM ET Los Angeles -147 500
Los Angeles - Under 5.5 500 *****
Good Luck Gang !
Florida State - 8:00 PM ET Florida State +2.5 500 *****
North Carolina - Under 48 500 *****
ACC Encounter for Bettors Only
The two biggest disappoints in the ACC this season have been Florida State (2-4, 1-5 ATS) and North Carolina (4-2, 2-3 ATS). Both team were improved last season with many positive signs and were expected to compete for the right to play in ACC championship game in 2009. Instead, ESPN has one of its worst dud games on a Thursday night it has had in years. Each of the Atlantic Coast Conference teams currently resides in the basement of their respective teams, talk about a need for flex scheduling!
Florida State’s bizarre season continues to become stranger as it goes along. The season started with the cloud over coach Bobby Bowden, being stripped of wins in his pursuit of Joe Paterno as the winningest coach in D-1 or FBS history. The exciting 38-34 loss to Miami in the opener was harbinger of defensive issues not wholly recognizable at the time.
A fourth quarter come from behind 19-9 win against FCS Jacksonville State was masked with impressive 54-28 win over then previously unbeaten BYU. That is where the rubber met the road. The Seminoles have not won since, losing three times and the defense has been scorched for 30.5 points per game in their four trips to the gridiron.
Several people are calling for Bobby Bowden to step down while others are saying leave him alone and let him decide when the time is right. What is another peculiar aspect in Florida State’s season are Bowden’s comments leading up this contest.
“I’m disappointed with the losses and yet we’ve done some good things. We’ve done something this year that we haven’t done before,” Bowden said. “Our offense against BYU took the ball and scored the first seven times they got the ball. Then against Georgia Tech, we took the ball and scored the first five times we got the ball.
“But defensively, we’ve had a hard time stopping the big play. We’ll go out there and stop a team, and stop a team, and stop a team and then whoop. So if they ever get that squared away we’ll be a pretty good ballclub.
“Another thing is, nobody’s crushed us. We haven’t been blown out. We’ve been right down to the wire with everybody, which maybe with one play less for them or one play more for us, we could be up at the top.”
Coach Bowden putting positive spin on losing season, what is next Glenn Beck and Keith Olberman become dining partners? At least the Noles are 27-11 ATS after two or more consecutive losses against the spread.
North Carolina has been done in by anemic offense. The Tar Heels rank No. 101 in rushing, No. 103 in passing, which ends up totaling 282.2 yards per game, 117th in total offense. Take away the wins against FCS Georgia Southern and The Citadel and North Carolina is the worst offensive team in the country. Subtract those two games and the Tar Heels are averaging 59.7 yards per game on the ground.
With no running game and QB T.J. Yates being rushed continually when dropping back to pass, and never in sync with receivers, the offense has scored 12 or fewer points three times on the year. UNC also averages almost three turnovers a game and is 12-26 ATS at home after playing a non-conference tilt.
Despite no offensive support, the Tar Heels stop troops rank third in the country in total defense at 237.7 yards per game. The numbers are somewhat misleading based on competition; however they would still be in the Top 20 defensively if just the four FBS teams were counted.
Bookmaker.com has North Carolina as 2.5-point favorites with total of 48 in the first ever Thursday-night televised home game for the Tar Heels in school history. The Heels are 6-2 with 3-5 ATS in last eight weekday games. They are 1-14-1 against Florida State, with 8-8 ATS mark and 7-0 ATS after leading in their previous game by 24 or more points at the half.
If the Seminoles defense can’t get healthy against this offense, there is no hope for the season. Florida State is 9-4 ATS as an underdog since 2005 (includes bowls), yet 4-13 ATS in road games against teams who commit 2.5 or more turnovers a game.
The Worldwide Leader has this ACC clash at 7:45 Eastern and will undoubtedly make reference to Florida State having never lost four in a row with Bobby Bowden patrolling the sidelines. Including Labor Day loss, the Noles are 0-5 ATS on weekdays.
=============================================
Thursday, October 22Game Score Status Pick Amount
NY Yankees - 7:57 PM ET LA Angels -111 500
LA Angels - Under 8.5 500
Yankees one game away from Fall Classic return
When Derek Jeter recalls the last time the New York Yankees got this close to the World Series, he gets chills down his spine that have nothing to do with the cold he’s fighting. “If you have the opportunity to get something over with, you’d like to do it,” the New York captain said. “It’s not always going to happen.”
Although the Yankees have a strong record in potential closeout playoff games over their peerless history, the 2004 AL championship series is a prodigious hole in their reputation that only a record 40th AL pennant could begin to cover. Up 3-0, New York lost four straight to the Boston Red Sox in an unprecedented collapse, and the Yankees hadn’t been that close to the World Series since—until now.
They get the first of three shots at a closeout victory over the struggling Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday night, with A.J. Burnett (13-9, team 23-12 all starts) facing Los Angeles ace John Lackey (12-9, team 15-14 all starts).
After half a decade and several hundred million dollars’ worth of premium free-agent shopping, most of the Yankees who have rolled through six wins in their first seven postseason games this fall don’t share Jeter’s memories of 2004. Manager Joe Girardi understands the history, but prefers to focus on the future.
“There’s a lot of different faces,” Girardi said. “You look at our rotation, CC (Sabathia) wasn’t here, A.J. wasn’t here. You look at the bullpen, and I believe Mo (Mariano Rivera) was the only guy that was here. It’s a different scenario, but we understand who the Angels are.” Girardi also understands having a rested pen with Rivera as the last line of defense is a superior option given his team is 20-6 when non-starters pitched one inning or less in last game.
Before a light workout at sun-kissed Angel Stadium on Wednesday, Girardi and the Yankees were modest about their chances of getting that last win and steaming back onto baseball’s biggest stage after a six-year absence. Their play in this postseason so far has done all their bragging for them.
With big-money newcomers Sabathia and Burnett joining Andy Pettitte in a dynamite three-man rotation (Yanks 40-12 after allowing two or less runs), backed by 2004 survivor Alex Rodriguez leading the offense, the current Yankees have shown no indication of slowing down.
After they missed the playoffs last fall for the first time in Jeter’s era, the Yankees have racked up baseball’s best record before rolling to the brink of a pennant against the Angels, who were second-best behind New York in the regular-season standings as well.
“Well, any time you can add the top three free agents, it’s going to be better,” outfielder Johnny Damon deadpanned. “(Sabathia, Burnett and Mark Teixeira) took us from missing the playoffs by six games last year to being pretty dominant.”
The Yankees have held a 3-1 lead in an ALCS six times since Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Jorge Posada joined the roster in the mid-1990s. New York closed it out immediately three times, waited for the sixth game once—and then there was 2004 and New York is 51-19 off a victory.
But these Yankees are well positioned to capitalize on their three chances to finish off Los Angeles. Nothing in the ALCS to date suggests the Yankees’ pitchers will have much trouble with the Angels, whose normally productive lineup is batting .201 against New York.
After a 10-1 rout in Game 4, it’s also tough to imagine New York’s sluggers slowing down. Rodriguez, Jeter and Posada are in the midst of outstanding postseasons, and the Yankees have 14 homers among their 67 hits in seven playoff games.
“It’s like every day, you’re looking to somebody to your right or left and saying, ‘Do you believe this guy?”’ Burnett said. “‘I mean, have you ever seen a guy like this guy?’ That’s a handful of guys on this team. I’ve played with some good players, but it’s like the guys on this squad, when the stage gets bigger and the situation gets bigger, they perform better. It never ceases to amaze me what can happen.”
Six of 28 teams in the Angels’ position have rallied from a 3-1 deficit in a league championship series—most recently in 2007, when the Boston Red Sox came back against Sabathia and Cleveland on the way to a title. Including the World Series, 11 of 69 teams that fell into a 3-1 hole have made the comeback.
“The mountain is big, period,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. “But we know baseball can turn around at any time. … We’ve been wanting that since our first game (against the Yankees). We haven’t quite got there yet, but it’s getting late. That bell is about to ring, so it’s time to get it done.” The lone remaining Los Angeles team is 16-5 after a game where the bullpen was hit hard for four or more runs this season.
Pitching hasn’t been the Angels’ biggest woe, even given the Yankees’ 10-run outburst in Game 3, which only got out of hand in the late innings. Los Angeles can’t hit against the Yankees, scraping the Mendoza Line while scoring just 10 runs in the series’ 42 innings.
“We’re trying to do too much with runners in scoring position,” said Bobby Abreu, who’s batting .125 against his former team. “We’re trying to drive in runs no matter what, and sometimes we swing at bad pitches. Tomorrow (Thursday) is a tough situation for us.” Maybe the day off will cleanse the mind and the Halos are 11-4 with 48 hours between game starts.
Burnett is still looking for his first playoff victory despite pitching fairly well in his last two starts. He got a no-decision in Game 2 despite allowing just three hits and two runs while pitching into the seventh inning of a contest that eventually went 310 minutes and 13 innings.
“This is why I signed—the opportunity to pitch in the postseason,” said Burnett, who never pitched in the playoffs for Florida or Toronto. “The first year over here, I have an opportunity, so I’m taking full advantage of it.”
Bookmaker.com has the Angels as -115 money line favorites with total Ov8.5. Burnett is 33-14 when the total is 8.5 to 10 over the last two years. (Team's Record) His counterpart Lackey is 26-10 as a favorite of -110 to -150, but 6-14 if the opposing club has a winning record. (Team's Record)
The total in this ALCS has been a mixed bag with the Under 2-1-1 and Lackey and friends are 11-0 Under in postseason baseball.
FOX takes over from here out, having the rest of the baseball telecasts and Game 5 starts at 7:55 Eastern.
==============================================
Thursday, October 22Game Score Status Pick Amount
NY Islanders - 7:00 PM ET NY Islanders +162 500
Montreal - Over 5.5 500
New Jersey - 7:00 PM ET NY Rangers -145 500
NY Rangers - Over 5.5 500
Boston - 7:00 PM ET Philadelphia -170 500
Philadelphia - Under 5.5 500
Washington - 7:00 PM ET Atlanta +113 500 *****
Atlanta - Over 6 500 *****
Nashville - 7:30 PM ET Ottawa -201 500
Ottawa - Under 5.5 500 *****
San Jose - 7:30 PM ET San Jose -155 500
Tampa Bay - Over 5.5 500 *****
Columbus - 9:30 PM ET Edmonton -128 500
Edmonton - Over 5.5 500
Detroit - 10:00 PM ET Phoenix +107 500 *****
Phoenix - Over 5.5 500 *****
Dallas - 10:30 PM ET Los Angeles -147 500
Los Angeles - Under 5.5 500 *****
Good Luck Gang !
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