Rangers give Washington 2-year extension

Baseball Betting Lines

01/30/2012 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Washington, the only manager in franchise history to win a postseason series, has signed a two-year contract extension with the Texas Rangers.

The deal, announced Monday, runs through the 2014 season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Washington, 59, led the Rangers to consecutive World Series appearances in the last two seasons and has been their manager for 18 of the 19 all-time playoff wins in team history.

He joined the Braves' Bobby Cox, the Yankees' Joe Torre and current Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel as the only managers in the Division Series era to advance to back-to-back World Series.

Washington's original two-year contract through the 2008 season included club options for 2009 and 2010, which were picked up. On November 4, 2010, he agreed to a two-year extension through the 2012 season.

He has compiled a 427-383 (.527) record in his five seasons with Texas -- the highest winning percentage ever by a Rangers manager with a minimum of two full seasons.

Money-games-online Baseball Betting News

<< This Week in Golf -- February 2nd through February 5th
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN - TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona - The biggest party on the PGA Tour is this week in Arizona. Hundreds of thousands of fans will make their way to the des

<< Is it too early to worry about Tiger or Phil?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Using a 'huge' sample size of three combined events, what can we make of the starts by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson? Woods teed it up on the European Tour this week instead of playing the Farmers Insura

<< Union releases Mondragon
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union and goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon agreed to part ways on Monday, allowing the Colombian to return to his native country to play for Deportivo Cali. Mondragon began his professional c

<< Ljubicic wins Zagreb opener
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatian tennis hero Ivan Ljubicic was a hard-fought opening-round winner Monday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis event. The top-seeded Ljubicic slammed 16 aces and held off Slovak Karol Beck 7

<< Pat Burrell retiring after 12 seasons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pat Burrell is retiring after a 12-year major league career, according to multiple reports. Burrell spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected him with the No. 1 overall pick

Charleston Southern sets 2012 schedule >>
Charleston, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charleston Southern football will kick off its 2012 season at crosstown rival The Citadel and make a trip to the University of Illinois as part of an 11-game schedule announced on Monday. The Buccaneers, fro

Godin helps Atletico hold off Osasuna >>
Navarra, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid climbed to seventh in La Liga on Monday after Diego Godin's first-half goal handed Atletico a 1-0 win at Osasuna. The goal arrived five minutes before halftime when a corner ki

Porto stunned at Gil Vicente >>
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Porto fell five points back of league- leaders Benfica on Sunday after sustaining a surprising 3-1 defeat at Gil Vicente. The home side brought a five-match winless streak into the contest against

Orioles invite P Galarraga, others to spring training >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles signed and invited 14 non-roster players to spring training. Among those with previous major league experience are pitchers Armando Galarraga and Pat Neshek and catcher Ronny Paulino

Wizards F Blatche out with calf injury >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche is expected to miss between three and five weeks with a strained calf. Wizards coach Randy Wittman made the announcement before Monday's game against Chicago. Bla

Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.