A's hope to build a win streak versus Mariners

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09/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - At seven games off the pace in the American League West Division, time is running out on the Oakland Athletics and their hopes for a postseason berth. The A's will try to get a winning streak going tonight in the finale of a three-game series versus the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum.

After beating Seattle in Monday's series opener, the A's dropped a 7-5 decision last night behind starting pitcher Dallas Braden. The left-hander was torched for six runs and nine hits in five innings to absorb the loss.

"It's big, just as far as perseverance is concerned. There's an old saying, 'Try hard and work hard, even when no one is looking,'" Braden said of the team battling back. "I think that flows over into what we're doing."

Kurt Suzuki and Coco Crisp both had two RBI, while Steven Tolleson finished with three hits for the A's, who have lost six of nine games and hope that first-place Texas continues to falter down the stretch. The Rangers have lost five straight.

The Athletics are 3-2 on a nine-game homestand and will send Gio Gonzalez to the hill Wednesday night. Gonzalez has won three straight starts and is 6-2 with a 2.05 earned run average in his last 10 starts. He threw six shutout innings and allowed four hits in an 8-0 triumph over the Angels last Friday, improving to 13-8 in 28 starts to go along with a 3.12 ERA.

Gonzalez is 1-0 in two starts against Seattle this season and 2-1 in seven career games, five of which have been starts, in this series.

Seattle has alternated wins and losses over its last six games and ended a six-game slide by the Bay with Tuesday's win. It set the tone with five runs in the second inning and got a home run from Adam Moore.

"We talked about putting ourselves in good offensive situations," said Mariners interim manager Daren Brown. "I thought we were able to string some hits together in the five-run inning, and I know that's something we haven't seen a lot since I've been here, but it was good to see it tonight."

Moore and Casey Kotchman both ended with two RBI, while Ichiro Suzuki recorded a pair of hits and knocked in a run for the Mariners, who got five innings of two-run ball out of winning starter Doug Fister. David Aardsma later posted his 29th save by getting the final out of the game.

Ichiro is riding a nine-game hitting streak in which he owns seven multi-hit performances.

Taking the mound for the Mariners this evening will be Luke French, who has won back-to-back and four of his last six starts. French pitched seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Friday's 1-0 win over Cleveland to even his 2010 mark at 4-4 in 11 games (8 starts) this season.

The left-hander recently lost to Oakland on August 11 and is 1-2 with a 5.89 earned run average in five career games (3 starts) against the Athletics.

Oakland has won six of eight meetings with the Mariners held at the Coliseum this season, as well as eight of 14 overall matchups between the two clubs.

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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.