Sports Betting: Weekly Roundup
The week in sports betting begins with Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday night as the Vancouver Canucks can lock up their first Cup win with a victory.
Vancouver took a 3-2 series lead with a 1-0 win in Game 5. Roberto Luongo silenced his critics by making 31 saves to record the shutout. Maxim Lapierre scored the lone goal for Vancouver in the win, while Boston netminder Tim Thomas played brilliantly but came up one save short in a 24-save performance.
With the series returning to Boston for Game 6 the Bruins are a -145 favorite at Bodog. So far the home team has won every game in the series and Boston has won five straight and nine of their last 10 at home overall. If Boston can win Monday night Game 7 would be played in Vancouver on Wednesday night.
On the baseball schedule this week a very interesting series between AL Central rivals begins on Tuesday when the Detroit Tigers play host to the Cleveland Indians. Heading into action on Monday the Indians and Tigers were tied atop the division after Cleveland dropped four straight.
The Indians enter the series 3-0 versus the Tigers this season after sweeping a three-game set in Cleveland. The Indians have won their last six games against the Tigers overall but it's a different story when they play in Detroit. The Tigers have won their last five games at home versus the Indians and 12 of their last 13.
Other notable series on the baseball schedule early in the week include Florida at Philadelphia, Texas at the Yankees, Boston at Tampa Bay, and San Francisco at Arizona.
Later in the week the second major of the golf season arrives with the start of the U.S. Open. This year the Open is being played at Congressional Country Club for the third time, and the first time since 1997.
Back in 1997 Ernie Els won his second career U.S. Open title after shooting four-under par to finish on stroke ahead of Colin Montgomerie. Since then Congressional also played host to the AT&T National three times from 2007 to 2009 - the winner of those three tournaments were K.J. Choi in '07, Anthony Kim in '08, and Tiger Woods in '09.
With Woods out of the tournament due to lingering knee problems the favorite according to the Bodog oddsmakers is Lee Westwood at 10/1. Westwood, currently No. 2 in the world rankings, is still looking for his first major win after finishing second in both the Masters and the British Open last year.
Other golfers appearing high on the U.S. Open odds at Bodog include Luke Donald (12/1), Phil Mickelson (12/1), Rory McIlroy (16/1), Steve Stricker (22/1), and Dustin Johnson (25/1). Reigning Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is at 40/1, and reining U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell is at 40/1 as well.