Moving Today's Market

We are only one week away from the start of the final month in the regular season so teams continue to jockey for the eight playoff spots. Divisional rivalries square off tonight as the Mets/Phillies, Red Sox/Yankees and Brewers/Cardinals begin their series'. Each of those series' draw attention in their markets but not one of those games is drawing the most attention in the world of gambling. It's surprising to see that John Lackey (10-2, 3.09 ERA) and the Angels against the Athletics and Greg Smith (6-12, 3.75 ERA) is getting a lot of the action. Pinnacle opened at Angels -250 and has since decreased to -240. The reason for the decrease was two Smart Money moves (professional betters) were triggered at 5Dimes (+8.52 units) and TradeSports (+12.50 units) in favor of Oakland. Lackey has been successful against the Athletics in his career, going 13-3 with a 2.77 ERA, but Greg Smith pitched a complete game, allowing only one run in his last outing against the Angels.

Another game on the gamblers radar is the Diamondbacks against the Padres. Brandon Webb (19-4, 2.74 ERA) tries to become the sixth pitcher since 1990 to win 20 games before September. In his last outing against the Padres he limited them to just three hits across seven innings. Arizona opened at -230 at Pinnacle and has only moved to -229 throughout the day, despite receiving 85 percent of the public bets. The majority of the sportsbooks monitored by Sports Insights have seen slight line changes but nothing drastic. Therefore the majority of the public is favoring the Diamondbacks but there is equal money on both sides.

Key Injury Updates

Player Team Injury Status Comments
Johnny Cueto Reds Elbow Miss next start expected to miss next start with a strained right elbow
Carlos Guillen Tigers Back Doubtful Tue expected to miss rest of series vs Indians
Vladimir Guerrero Angels Knee Ques Tues missed last game with knee injury and may not start tonight vs Oakland
Brian Barton Cardinals Oblique Out Tuesday left Sunday's game after running out infield single

 

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Tomorrow's Market Mover

Adam Wainwright makes his second start for the Cardinals since coming off the disabled list in an important game against the Brewers and a pair of journeyman pitchers start in the Red Sox/Yankees series. With a combined 508 starts between the two, newly acquired Paul Byrd faces Sidney Ponson.