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08/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers hope to keep their slim playoff hopes alive tonight, when they kick off a six-game road trip with the first of three straight matchups against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
Los Angeles is 7 1/2 games off the pace in the National League Wild Card standings and has dropped eight of its last 12 games. In Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the finale of a three-game series, Clayton Kershaw was dealt the defeat for giving up three runs with 11 strikeouts in seven innings.
"Clayton settled down after the first inning," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "But when you don't put up runs it puts a lot of stress on our pitchers. We struggled against a pretty good pitcher [Bronson Arroyo] today."
Matt Kemp homered and A.J. Ellis finished with three hits and an RBI for the Dodgers, who will also visit Colorado for three games on the trip.
Ted Lilly has won all four of his starts with the Dodgers and will take the mound again Tuesday night. Lilly has pitched to a 1.29 earned run average in his first four starts with his new team and is coming off a two-hit shutout of the Rockies last Thursday.
Lilly, a lefty, entered that game after tossing six scoreless frames in a win at Atlanta on August 14 and is 7-8 with a 3.23 ERA for the Cubs and Dodgers this season. He owns a 4-2 mark in 10 career games (nine starts) against Milwaukee.
The Brewers had a four-game winning streak cut short in Sunday's 7-3 loss to the San Diego Padres in the finale of a three-game series.
Manny Parra was rocked for seven runs and eight hits in six innings to absorb the loss, while Ryan Braun ended 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI for Milwaukee, which also got two hits from Rickie Weeks, Chris Dickerson and Jonathan Lucroy.
"My fastball was terrible all day," said Parra. "That's what came back to bite me. I fell behind and couldn't locate my pitches and that's what happened."
Milwaukee, which will also host Pittsburgh in Brew City, is slated to send Dave Bush to the mound in Tuesday's series opener. Bush is 6-10 with a 4.63 earned run average in 25 games (24 starts) this season and is coming off a win at St. Louis last Tuesday.
Bush held the Cardinals to a run and four hits in six innings after going 0-2 in his three preceding starts. The righty is 1-1 with a 3.55 ERA in four career starts against Los Angeles.
The Brewers took two of three matchups with Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine back in early May and have won five of the last eight contests between the two ballclubs.
<< Tigers await Damon's decision; resume set with KC
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johnny Damon could be playing his final game with Detroit
this evening when the Tigers continue their three-game series with the Kansas
City Royals at Comerica Park.
Damon was claimed off waivers by the Boston Red So
<< NL playoff hopefuls continue set in San Francisco
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants will be vying to build off a big
win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday when the two postseason contenders
continue an intriguing three-game series from AT&T Park this evening.
The Giants ente
<< Yankees, Jays continue series up north
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Moseley will try to slow down Jose Bautista this
evening when the New York Yankees continue their three-game series against the
Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Bautista hit home runs 39 and 40 on the season,
<< Red Sox hope Beckett can pitch past Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Boston Red Sox are going to get back to the
postseason, they are going to need Josh Beckett to start pitching like Josh
Beckett. The right-hander takes the hill this evening when the Red Sox
continu
Padres return home to battle Diamondbacks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres will try to pad their lead atop the
National League West standings when they open a three-game series versus the
division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks tonight from Petco Park.
San Diego is 5 1/2 games in
Mets to face Marlins ace in divisional clash >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins ace Josh Johnson will try to win
consecutive starts for the first time in over a month when he takes the mound
tonight in the opener of a three-game road series versus the New York Mets.
Johnson was 0-2 wit
Report: Bobcats sign Kwame Brown >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats have reportedly
reunited former No. 1 pick Kwame Brown and new team owner Michael Jordan.
The Charlotte Observer reports the Bobcats have brought in Brown on a one-
year, $1
Blackhawks make it official with Pisani >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks officially brought
in free-agent forward Fernando Pisani, signing him to a one-year deal on
Tuesday.
Terms of the contract were not released, but TSN of Canada reported
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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