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07/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Hughes takes aim at win No. 12 when the New York Yankees open a brief two-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this evening at Yankee Stadium.
Hughes, the loser in last Tuesday's All-Star Game, won six of his final seven decisions before the break, including an impressive victory over the Seattle Mariners in his last start on July 9. Hughes gave up a run and six hits in seven innings of that one and struck out five without walking a batter to improve to 11-2 while lowering his earned run average to 3.65.
"A lot of teams would take 11 wins from their fifth starter on the year...that's a big deal for half the year," Yankee manager Joe Girardi said of his young star.
Hughes beat the Angels earlier in the year and is 3-0 lifetime against them with a 4.70 ERA in five games (three starts).
The Yankees just took two of three from the Tampa Bay Rays in an emotional three-game set in the Bronx this past weekend, including a 9-5 win in Sunday's rubber match.
Alex Rodriguez clubbed a solo homer, the 598th of his career, and Derek Jeter had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run as the Yankees won for the 10th time in 12 games to improve their position in the AL East.
However, the news was not all good for the Yanks in that one, as starter Andy Pettitte was forced from the game with a groin injury and will miss at least the next 4-to-6 weeks.
"I really don't remember exactly what happened," said Pettitte of the injury. "I felt like I landed maybe a little awkward and I just felt like a burning sensation in [his groin]. As I stood there, I felt something kind of aching me a little bit. I tried to throw the warm-up pitch and felt fine when I threw it, but when I brought my left leg over it didn't feel good at all."
Los Angeles, meanwhile, will be starting a critical stretch tonight that will see them play six road games against the Yankees and AL West-leading Texas before heading home for six games against the Boston Red Sox and Rangers.
The Angels were denied a sweep in their four-game series with the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, falling 2-1 in 10 innings of the finale at Angel Stadium. Mike Napoli's solo homer was the lone run for the Angels, who wasted a superb outing from Ervin Santana.
Santana gave up a run in seven innings, but Kevin Jepsen (2-2) was charged with the loss.
"Sometimes you have to give the other guys credit," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Ervin (Santana) pitched a great game. We just didn't give him much run support."
Tonight the Angels had hoped to give the ball to lefty Scott Kazmir, but he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder fatigue. So the Angels are expected to hand the ball to righty Sean O'Sullivan, who has pitched to a 1.29 ERA in four relief appearances for the club this season.
These teams have split six meetings this season after going 5-5 against one another a year ago. Los Angeles, though, has lost seven of its last nine in the Bronx.
<< Royals try to make it two in a row over Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals try to string back-to-back wins
together this evening, when they play the middle test of their three-game
series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals halted a six-game losing
<< Cubs, Astros continue series at Wrigley Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs had the wind taken out of their sails in
last night's loss to the Houston Astros and will try for a measure of revenge
Tuesday in the second installment of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs wo
<< Reds hand ball to rookie Leake vs. Nationals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Reds are going to be careful with how many innings
rookie Mike Leake racks up this season. They might be tempted to take the
leash off tonight given how well he pitched against the Nationals last time.
Leake
<< Rangers try to deal spiraling Tigers a seventh straight loss
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Hunter hopes to deliver Texas' first series win in
Detroit since 2007 this evening, when the Rangers play the middle test of
their three-game set with the Tigers at Comerica Park.
Texas had lost 11 straight in Detroi
Marlins try to top another Rockies pitcher in south Florida >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins survived a meeting with Colorado
Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez in last night's opener of a four-game series at Sun
Life Stadium.
The Marlins figure to have an easier chance of matching their longes
Brewers vie to stay hot against Pirates >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after starter Chris Capuano earned his first
victory in over three years, the Milwaukee Brewers will try to extend their
series winning streak over the Pittsburgh Pirates to six games this evening in
the sec
White Sox hope to pad lead in Seattle >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox will be vying to further pad their
lead atop the American League's Central Division when the resurgent club
resumes a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners this evening at Safeco
Field.
Chica
Indians take aim at sixth straight win in middle tilt with Minnesota >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians are beginning to atone for a
miserable first half of the season with a terrific start to their second.
The rejuvenated Indians take aim at a sixth consecutive victory following the
All-Star break whe
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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