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07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves are shooting for a split of a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday afternoon, when the two ballclubs wrap up a lengthy set from Turner Field.
The Braves have dropped two in a row and three of four games since a four-game winning streak and were beaten, 6-3, in Saturday's contest. Tim Hudson was aiming for his 10th win of the season, but was rocked for six runs, including five in the seventh inning, in 6 2/3 innings to fall to 9-5 on the year.
"I wasn't nearly as crisp as I would have liked to be in the seventh," Hudson said after the game.
Matt Diaz hit a two-run homer and Eric Hinske added a solo blast for the Braves, whose lead in the NL East slipped to 4 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia. The New York Mets are five games behind the Braves.
Struggling Braves starter Derek Lowe gets the nod this afternoon and has lost three straight trips to the hill. He is only 1-4 with a 4.22 earned run average in his last seven starts, with the Braves going 2-5 over that period.
Lowe last pitched in Sunday's 3-0 loss against the Mets and allowed two runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings, falling to 9-8 in 19 starts to go along with a 4.35 earned run average.
The right-hander, who is 6-3 in nine home starts this season, beat Milwaukee back on May 12 at Miller Park with six innings of two-run ball in his team's 9-2 win. He is 4-1 in 10 career games (8 starts) against the Brewers.
Milwaukee is playing good baseball right now and will try to win its second straight series today after sweeping Pittsburgh in three games prior to taking two of three matchups so far with the Braves.
Chris Narveson threw six innings of two-run ball and John Axford struck out two batters over 1 1/3 innings of relief for his 11th save. Prince Fielder homered to lead off the decisive seventh inning and Corey Hart stroked a three-run double to highlight the frame.
The game got a little heated as Fielder led off the eighth. The first pitch from Atlanta reliever Jonny Venters sailed over the head of the All-Star first baseman. Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez immediately issued a warning to both benches, but the lefty's next pitch drilled Fielder in the back, resulting in an ejection for him and Braves manager Bobby Cox.
"I was just trying to go right at him," Venters said. "The first one was a breaking ball and it got away from me a little bit. The second pitch was a sinker and it just ran away from me. Unfortunately, it hit him. There was nothing intentional about it. It was a three-run game."
Milwaukee will visit the Pirates for four games after this set and will hand the ball to Manny Parra on Sunday. Parra is just 3-6 with a 4.65 earned run average in 26 games, nine of which have been starts, this season. He was 2-0 in three outings before losing to San Francisco the previous time out on July 8 at Miller Park.
Parra was shelled for six runs -- four earned -- and 10 hits in five innings and has now lost three of his last five decisions. The lefty is 0-1 with an 8.10 ERA in two relief appearances against the Braves this season and is 0-1 in four career games (2 starts) in this series.
The Braves had won five straight and seven of their last eight versus the Brewers before losing on Friday.
<< Cardinals have brooms ready for Dodgers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals aim for their fifth straight win
and a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers when the two storied
franchises close out their series today at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis' last four-gam
<< Marshall's DeQuan Bembry kicked off football team
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -Marshall University defensive back DeQuan Bembry has been kicked off the school's football team, some three months after his arrest outside a West Virginia bar.Coach Doc Holliday announced Bembry's dismissal in a news release
<< Kearns lifts Tribe to doubleheader sweep of Detroit
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austin Kearns hit an RBI single in the
bottom of the 11th inning, as the Cleveland Indians edged the Detroit Tigers,
2-1, in the second part of a doubleheader.
Robbie Weinhardt (0-1) put runners on
<< Padres hit four homers in win over Diamondbacks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Gwynn Jr. hit his second inside-the-
park home run of the season and Yorvit Torrealba drove in four, as the San
Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-5, at Petco Park.
Gwynn, who has onl
Pirates go with Maholm in finale vs. Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lefty Paul Maholm can establish a rarity for the 2010
Pittsburgh Pirates -- a win streak -- when they host the Houston Astros in the
finale of a three-game weekend series today at PNC Park.
The Pirates had lost sev
Cook leads Rockies into finale at Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suburban Cincinnati native Aaron Cook returns home to face
a team that's never beaten him today, when the Colorado Rockies head to Great
American Ball Park to meet the Reds in the finale of a three-game series.
The host
Marlins aim for series win vs. Nationals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlins right-hander Alex Sanabia makes his fifth trip to a
major-league mound today, seeking to lift Florida to a series win in the
finale of a three-game set with the visiting Washington Nationals at Sun Life
Stadium
Szavay wins second straight title >>
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hungary's Agnes Szavay captured her
second consecutive tournament title with a three-set victory over crowd
favorite Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in Sunday's final of
the Pra
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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.
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