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Picks for 5/20/09: Devil Rays Did Not Take Athletics Seriously Yesterday

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Rivalry Page: Devil Rays vs Athletics

Result: -3.42 units

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (-173) over Oakland Athletics (2.0 Units) -

We thought the Devil Rays were shoe-ins to win yesterday. I guess they did not take the Athletics very seriously yesterday. But after getting shutout for 10 innings yesterday and giving up ZERO earned runs yesterday, we've got to believe that they are in for a good motivated performance today. It was the Athletics that still do not really have much momentum. They have got to be coming out of yesterday's game thing, wow, "How did we win?"... hehe...

Besides, betting on a favorite team of <-150 in the second game of a series that lost game 1 as a favorite of more than <-175 is an incredible 243-92, dating back to the beginning of the 11 seasons ago. That means these teams win at a 73% clip and are +58 units :-)

And they are undervalued by about 17 points.

There are a couple of reasons this system works. First off, people love to bet favorites. So they would likely have bet these Devil Rays in game 1. And if they lose, they will unlikely want to bet them again in Game 2. You wouldn't want to lose twice in a row betting a favorite. You'd be losing your money like crazy and feel like crap. So that keeps the odds for the Devil Rays here a bit more sensible. Secondly, there's more motivation on the side of the losing team.

Offensively, we think the Devil Rays might have had a problem yesterday because they were facing a lefty. But they will be going against a lefty today also. So that will be on their side this time.

Take this game action regardless of pitcher though.