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07/28/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Lackey returned to his former stomping grounds and pitched 7 1/3 quality innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 win over the Angels in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Lackey (10-5), who pitched for the Angels for his entire eight-year career before inking a free agent contract with Boston in the offseason, allowed two runs on seven hits for the Red Sox, who have won two straight games and four of six overall. Jed Lowrie hit a two-run double and Adrian Beltre added a key RBI in the victory.
Josh Beckett is scheduled to make his second start following a lengthy stint on the disabled list in Wednesday's series finale, when the Sox will attempt to sweep the Angels for the second time this season.
Bobby Abreu hit a solo home run and finished with two RBI for the struggling Angels, who have dropped three straight and six of their last seven games.
Jered Weaver (9-7) started on the hill for Los Angeles and was very strong through six scoreless innings, but suffered the loss after he exited after seven full frames and ended with a line which showed two runs allowed on six hits with eight strikeouts.
<< Billingsley, Ethier lead Dodgers over Padres
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chad Billingsley pitched six shutout frames,
and his pinch-hitter, Andre Ethier, came through with a big hit in the top of
the seventh, as the Dodgers kicked off an important NL West three-game set
with a
<< Bay out of Mets lineup
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Bay is experiencing concussion-like
symptoms several days after crashing into the outfield wall while making a
catch against the Dodgers and was not in the Mets' lineup against St. Louis on
Tuesday
<< Reds subdue Brewers with 19-hit barrage
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Rolen was one of three Cincinnati
players with four hits and drove in three runs as the Reds walloped the
Brewers, 12-4, snapping Milwaukee's five-game winning streak.
Brandon Phillips we
<< Valencia, Twins stay hot in rout of Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Valencia knocked in three and
collected four more hits while Carl Pavano turned in his eighth consecutive
winning decision in an 11-2 Twins victory over Kansas City.
Valencia was coming of
Jack Roush hospitalized following plane crash >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush racing, was
hospitalized Tuesday night following a plane crash at Wittman Air field in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Roush was landing his Hawker Beechcraft Premier jet when the crash took
Hot Fish pulls out of LA event; Blake advances >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red-hot American Mardy Fish pulled out of
the $700,000 Farmers Classic tennis event on Tuesday, citing fatigue and an
ankle injury.
An eighth-seeded Fish was scheduled to meet German Benjamin Beck
Bartoli, Sharapova reach second round in Stanford >>
Stanford, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Marion Bartoli and former
World No. 1 Maria Sharapova were first-round victors Tuesday at the $700,000
Bank of the West Classic tennis event.
The former Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli handl
Warriors' Lin hopes to beat Harvard stereotypes >>
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -The first Taiwanese-American signed by an NBA team hopes to overcome the negative stereotype of playing college basketball at Harvard, and eventually wants to be a minister in an inner-city neighborhood.Undrafted point guard Jer
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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