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07/24/2012 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's unlikely triple led to the game-winning run in the seventh inning, as the Indians squeezed past the Tigers, 3-2, in the opener of a three-game series between the division foes.
Miguel Cabrera momentarily quieted the Progressive Field crowd by hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh, but Hafner, with the benefit of a generous bounce off the left-field wall, legged out a one-out triple in the bottom half.
A well-executed squeeze bunt by Aaron Cunningham allowed pinch-runner Lou Marson to slide in safely ahead of Doug Fister's low throw, and Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez each threw an inning of relief to close out the tight win.
Cabrera's homer off Joe Smith (6-2) spoiled a winning decision for Ubaldo Jimenez, who scattered seven hits and two walks over six scoreless innings.
Nonetheless, the Indians won for the second straight night on the heels of a four-game slide and snapped the AL Central-leading Tigers' five-game winning streak. Detroit went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
Fister (4-7), a winner in his previous three starts, gave up three runs on nine hits over seven innings to take the loss.
<< Bucs acquire Rodriguez from Astros
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates bolstered their
starting rotation by acquiring Wandy Rodriguez and cash from the Houston
Astros in exchange for three players.
The move was announced following Tuesday's 5
<< Nationals send Dickey to first loss in over three months
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam LaRoche hit a two-run home run and R.A.
Dickey lost a game for the first time in over three months as the Washington
Nationals took a 5-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field.
Dickey (13-2) came
<< Maholm, Cubs sink Pirates again
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Maholm turned in eight solid innings
against his former mates and Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer as Chicago
downed Pittsburgh, 5-1, in the middle test of a three-game set.
Maholm (9-6), a P
<< Seahawks give Clemons multi-year pact
Renton, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Seahawks have agreed to terms with
defensive end Chris Clemons on a multi-year contract extension.
Clemons was acquired from the Eagles on March 16, 2010 in the deal that sent
defensive end Darry
A's win sixth straight, down Blue Jays >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derek Norris hit a two-run homer and Yoenis
Cespedes drove in three runs to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 7-2 win over
the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.
Jemile W
Phillies come from behind again, shock Brewers with 6-run eighth >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee's decision to pull Zack Greinke
after seven dominant innings Tuesday night proved to be costly, as the
Philadelphia Phillies scored six runs in the eighth to take a 7-6 decision.
Greinke
Crawford's hit in ninth boosts Giants over Padres >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Crawford singled home Brandon
Belt in the ninth inning to lift the San Francisco Giants over the San Diego
Padres, 3-2, in the middle tilt of a three-game set at AT&T Park.
Belt, who r
Six Degrees of Separation: Smith pitches Royals past Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Smith teamed with Garrett Richards, Mark
Trumbo and Mike Trout during his minor league days with the Angels before
being traded to the Royals.
Tuesday night marked the best start of Smith's young
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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