Sports Betting Digest

The records of the best teams in the Western Conference of the NHL are proving expectations that this would be the conference to beat.

The Chicago Blackhawks with 25 points are the top team of the Western Conference followed up by a tight field points wise.

Double-digit underdogs to win the conference, the Minnesota Wild, are surprising almost everyone and are leading their division with 23 points with the Edmonton Oilers following closely at 20. The Vancouver Canucks, defending conference champs, are close on their heels. Many anticipated that the Canucks would suffer a Stanley Cup runner-up hangover and it appears that this might be the case.

Another division leader, the Dallas Stars, can run away with the Pacific division, they have 22 points in the tightest division on the board. The Phoenix Coyotes fall short of the Stars by one point with the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings nipping at their heels with 19 .

The Western Conference was home to the best teams last season but the Stanley Cup was brought home by the Boston Bruins even though they were not the best team in the tournament.

Expectations were high for the Kings to dominate the Pacific as a 12-1 shot to win the conference but are a disappointment after a quick start. Now they have some work to do to get back on top of Dallas in 2011/2012.

The demise of the Anaheim Ducks has been swift but not completely unexpected. This team is aging by the day and will need to retool by the middle of the season and give the young up and comers a serious shot at turning things around.

When the Yankees and Red Sox meet, there are a lot of eyes paying attention to baseball. Even if you could care less about either of baseball’s larger than life franchises, it’s tough to get around the sports universe without getting a rundown of the big Boston-New York battle.

Online sportsbooks love this opportunity, as the heavy action on these series never fails to come in. As if this match-up isn’t enough to get the excitement going, both teams sit at 68-42 headed into Friday’s game. No, that record isn’t the best in baseball, that belongs to Philadelphia (72-39), but Boston and New York are tied for 2nd, and in the same division no less.

On Saturday, the Yankees will send their ace to the mound in C.C. Sabathia. Boston will go with John Lackey. Lackey has been even more disappointing than he was last season in his first go around after his huge contract. He’s 9-8 with a 6.23 ERA – I wonder if that’s worth 80 million? Sabathia has been his dominant self, 16-5 with a 2.55 ERA and the leader for the AL Cy Young.

Boston has owned New York so far this season. In their 9 games against New York this season, the Red Sox are 8-1. They’ve beaten Sabathia 3 times this season, already. The Red Sox have averaged 6 runs in games where C.C. starts and have put up 6 runs or more in all but 2 of those meetings (both wins, 4-0 and 5-4). The Yankees have some work to do.

The PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey has been the marquee event for the European Tour but never did it assume the kind of significance that embellishes the tournament this year.

Luke Donald, in spite of being ranked behind Lee Westwood, made jaws drop when he announced that his recent consistency makes him the best player in the world. He made an extraordinary round of 64 resulting in eight strokes in front of the world No.1. Donald strokes were right on target and he made a big impression with his fine form.

After the first day of the BMW PGA Championship, Westwood carded a one-over-par 72. Graeme McDowell shot 75 and Rory Mcllroy, went one worse, posting a 76.

13 top tens in his last 14 events, shows Donald’s noteworthy consistency. Only one win in that sequence tells that Donald is in some sense lacking just like Johnny Miller, the 1976 Open champion.

Donald can make significant move in the rankings. Manassero will leap into the top 15, if he can win this championship. Early in this week, he had acclaimed some encouragement. On Tuesday night at the European Tour’s awards dinner, Manassero collected his Rookie of the Year award.

Lots of action is seen in Golf betting lines have received a ton of action these last few days. The odds for the golfers at BMW PGA Championship are Luke Donald 36/25, Matteo Manassero 15/2, Ian Poulter 12, Alvaro Quiros 22, Lee Westwood 27.

This weekend in a series between two teams those are trying to climb back into the race, the Los Angeles Dodgers will battle against the New York Mets. In their respective divisions both of these teams are at least 4.5 games behind the division leaders.

With LA at 35-1 and New York at 50-1, baseball betting lines have both the Dodgers and Mets as long shots to win the World Series.

Even though they’ve been unable to get things going this season, both of these teams have talented squads. Although the Dodgers have actually had one of the worst pitching staffs in the National League to this point they are known for having a great pitching staff each year. Compared to the Dodgers, only 2 teams in the National League have allowed more runs.

The Mets seem poised to make a run up the standings as they are now healthy. They look like a real contender with their lineup finally complete as they have won 7 of their last 10 games. If the Dodgers are unable to pick things up they should be able to feast off of the Dodgers pitching for much of the series.

On Sunday, the Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound. In baseball, Kershaw is without doubt one of the best young pitchers. The Dodgers are still waiting for him to step up and be a true ace for their pitching staff as he has been fairly inconsistent this season though.

As they both need to string some wins together if they hope to get on track, this series will be a big one for both teams. The Dodgers may be able to play catch up if they can string together some wins as the Rockies have not been playing terribly well as of late.

The Boston Celtics will be locking up horns against the New York Knicks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at TD Garden, Boston, MA. Currently, Boston leads the series by 1-0. The sportsbooks are offering great basketball picks. Celtics are favorites for this game. Knicks are (14/5), while Celtics are (1/3).

An overall exceptional defensive game was played by the Knicks. With a strained left knee, Chauncey Billups’ expected Game 2 absence will have a massive impact on the game. Replacement Toney Douglas will have to step up. If not, something has to be figured out by the offensive-minded coach Mike D’Antoni.

The Knicks had a horrendous shooting in the second half and they have to shoot better overall. The way to do it is by feeding the hot hand. Amar’e Stoudemire was the person who did most of that on Sunday and not Carmelo Anthony (1-of-11, three points in the second half).

For Boston, Rajon Rondo is quite a force. His pinpoint inbounds pass for a Kevin Garnett was accountable for taking all of half a second in crunch time. At the other end of the court, defense and rebounding fueled the Celtics, as they were able to get in transition and produce effortless baskets with Rondo at the helm.

The question is whether for 48 minutes, Boston can put that sort of endeavor together. In the postseason, coach Doc Rivers is encouraged to see the fourth-quarter defensive supremacy.

An amazing play so far this tennis season has made Novak Djokovic a top favorite to take over the No. 1 world tennis ranking from current No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

As world number one online sportsbooks have Djokovic at 5-1 in tennis odds to end the ATP Tour season. After Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open, the odds were released on Sunday.

To win the French Open in May Djokovic is also at 5-1.

While a fourth title of the season has cut into Nadal’s lead further, the Serbian player passed 16-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer in the rankings following his Australian Open win.

Even with the fact the ATP Tour season is headed for Nadal’s favoured surface clay, Nadal does get a boost to hand on to top spot. To hold on to top spot the Spaniard is 8/11.

Nadal is bow at 5-1 to win at Roland Garros after opening at 4-9 although with Djokovic closing in on the game’s top player.

While out-of-form Andy Murray is 33/1 to be topping the rankings come the end of the season, Federer was brushed aside by Nadal in the semis in Miami and is 12/1 to reclaim top spot.

On Sunday to win the Sony Ericsson Open Djokovic beat Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), his fourth consecutive title of the year and 26th straight match dating from last season.

He said that, that is the best four months of his life and that streak is incredible.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated an out-of-sorts world number two Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open by producing some dazzling tennis.

In 2009, Azarenka witnessed her career breakthrough at Key Biscayne. In this edition of 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, she ran out 6-3 6-3 winner against the 2010 champion Clijsters.

The No. 2 seed in the Crandon Park event, Clijsters had reached the quarterfinals by battling back from a 5-1 deficit in the third set Tuesday by holding off former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. Azarenka proved too much to prevail over for Clijsters, as the latter committed 44 unforced errors. Azarenka displayed some solid play. In nine service games, Clijsters had eight double faults and held her serve just three times. She persists to be troubled by a right shoulder injury.

Azarenka will face third-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva. The latter won 7-5 6-3 over Poland’s Agienszka Radwanska. Russia’s Maria Sharapova will face off against rising German star Andrea Petrovic in the other semi-final.

After winning the match, Azarenka said that it does not matter if she is on the court, or off the court; she feels cheerful all the time now. She added that Miami definitely is a great place with so much of enthusiasm from people. She said that she is really enjoying her time in Miami and it will continue to be an exceptional place for her.

The sportsbooks are offering some interesting odds for the Sony Ericsson open. The odds for the semifinals are – Andrea Petkovic (5/6) vs. Maria Sharapova (19/16) and Vera Zvonareva (8/11) vs. Victoria Azarenka (11/8).

This week in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will lock horn with the Texas Longhorns. The Golden Grizzlies are a 13 seed whereas the Longhorns are posted a 4 seed in the tournament.

In March Madness betting odds, Texas is a 10-point favorite.

The Golden Grizzlies are near the top of the NCAA in a bunch of offensive categories while they are just a 13 seed. By averaging 86 points per game, they score the ball better than almost any team in the nation.  By scoring on 49 percent of their shot attempts, they are a great shooting team. They are 17th in the nation in assists per game as well as they are also great on the boards.

The Golden Grizzlies are also largely unproven while they have great statistics. Since the beginning of the New Year, they have not played a single ranked team. They have also only lost one game in 2011, which may give them a lot of confidence entering the tournament while they have not played a single ranked team.

Even though Texas have lost 4 of their last 8 games, just a few weeks ago they were seen as a team that could be a 1 seed in the tournament. Although they have not had the consistency that they hoped for, they are a solid team. By stopping Hamilton and Thompson is the key to stopping this team that the opponents are aware of. This duo will give the Golden Grizzlies a lot of trouble as they are as good as almost any duo in the nation. On Friday these teams are scheduled to play.

In NCCA Basketball Picks, the Texas Longhorns are favorites to win the match.

As the Wings have struggled recently losing their last three games and only going 5-3-2 during that stretch, Saturday will see two Central Division rivals clash when the Detroit Red Wings travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues. St. Louis might be catching the Red Wings at an opportune time.

As the St. Louis tries to mount a late season rally to make the playoffs, they on the other hand will look to build off a recent shootout victory over Columbus.

Even though Detroit is starting to feel some pressure from the surging Blackhawks, they have led the Central Division for much of the season. Chicago now only sits six points behind Detroit for the division lead and the second seed in the Western Conference as they have won eight games in a row. The Red Wings will have to start playing better hockey and beat the teams at the bottom of the standings, such as St. Louis if the Red Wings hope to win another division title.

For the eighth and final playoff spot, the Blues’ season is almost all but over as St. Louis sits ten points behind Los Angeles. Even though a poor 10-17-5 road record will more than likely see the Blues miss the playoffs yet again, this season has been a disappointment for the Blues who had hoped to see an improved record this year.

The NASCAR season heads into their West Coast swing with an early visit to Phoenix International Raceway as the dust has settled on Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 victory. Even though now NASCAR brings the series to a long flat mile track with a dog leg on the back stretch, in recent history the second race of the season has been the California race at Fontana.

At online sports betting sites, get NASCAR Odds.

The drivers that came up through the ranks of open wheel sprint cars and midgets are the one who appreciate this track the most. The drivers that race well on this challenging flat mile track are Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon.

Carl Edwards’ open wheel sprint car background is a contributing factor as he ranks as one of the best active drivers on the PIR mile. For PIR the two highest ranking NASCAR drivers do not have an open wheel background. Jimmie Johnson’s average finish on the track is a mind boggling 4.9 average finish as he owns the highest driver rating on PIR.

In his historical career, Mark Martin also has performed well on this track. Martin, one of only three drivers, owns a driver rating of over 100 for PIR. Even though Martin does have 19 top tens and his average finish is 8.6, he has only two wins.

Look no further than Jeff Gordon, if looking for another veteran with good numbers at PIR. Even though Gordon has only one win, his average finish is 10.6 with 17 top 10′s.