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07/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran lefty Randy Wolf pitches for the sweep when the Milwaukee Brewers host the Pittsburgh Pirates today in the finale of their three-game series at Miller Park.
Milwaukee has taken one-run verdicts in each of the first two games of the series, including a 4-3 triumph on Saturday, when Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back home runs to support 6 1/3 strong innings from Dave Bush.
Bush (4-6) gave up two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Braun also doubled and scored three times, while Casey McGehee drove in a run and had two hits for Milwaukee.
Brewers rookie right-hander John Axford recorded his 10th save in as many opportunities despite serving up a homer to Ryan Doumit in the ninth.
The Brewers won Friday, 5-4, after Braun came through with the game-winning hit and Fielder had another home run.
Garrett Jones smacked his 11th homer of the year for the Pirates, who have now lost five in a row. Starter Jeff Karstens (2-4) allowed four runs on five hits with a season-high six walks in five innings.
Wolf, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, was an 11-game winner for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season before coming to the Brewers as a free agent and winning six of his initial 14 decisions. He downed St. Louis on July 1 for his last win, then subsequently dropped a 6-1 verdict to San Francisco on Tuesday despite allowing four hits and one earned run in seven innings.
He took just his second loss in 15 career starts against the Pirates May 19 in Pittsburgh, allowing 10 hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings. Lifetime against Pittsburgh, Wolf is 8-2 with a 3.42 earned run average across exactly 100 innings.
The Pirates counter with Texas-born rookie right-hander Brad Lincoln, who was just 12 years old when Wolf debuted in the minors.
Lincoln was a 6-2 loser at Houston his last time out after allowing seven hits and five runs in five innings. He'd earned his lone major-league win one start earlier with a 2-0 triumph at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs on June 30.
In 36 big-league innings over six starts, Lincoln has given up 40 hits and 21 earned runs with 10 walks and 14 strikeouts.
Milwaukee has won seven of its 10 matchups with the Pirates this season and is 30-9 against the Bucs since the start of the 2008 campaign.
<< Nalbandian sends Argentina past Russia in Davis Cup quarters
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Nalbandian gave Argentina a Davis Cup
quarterfinal victory over Russia with a straight-set triumph over Mikhail
Youzhny in Sunday's fifth and decisive singles rubber.
After Nikolay Davydenko ke
<< Creamer still three in front after third round
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer rolled in a four-foot birdie putt
on the 18th hole Sunday to move three shots clear after the third round of the
U.S. Women's Open.
Creamer finished the third round Sunday morning and posted an im
<< Rays aim for series win over lowly Indians
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A four-game set and the first half of the season both come
to a close today at Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays host the
Cleveland Indians.
Tampa Bay enters its final test before the All-Star break two games behin
<< Phillies seeking sweep of hard-fought set with Reds
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A terrific first half of the season is having an unwanted
ending for the Cincinnati Reds, who'll be out to avoid a four-game sweep at
the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies when the two postseason hopefuls square
off again th
France completes whitewash of Spain >>
Clermont-Ferrand, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau
each won reverse singles matches for France on Sunday to complete a 5-0 rout
of Spain in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
The Spaniards were the two-time defendin
Angels, A's hope to close out first half on high note >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
close out a three-game weekend set from the Coliseum this afternoon.
These teams have split the first two meetings of this series, with the
Athletics rebounding from
Sabathia gets call for Yanks' first-half finale with Mariners >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The final of four weekend games between the New York
Yankees and Seattle Mariners will take place at Safeco Field today.
Yankees' ace CC Sabathia will be on the mound for the finale, and that is
typically good news for his
Rookie arms on display in Diamondbacks-Marlins clash >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie right-hander Barry Enright aims for a series
clincher in just his third start as a big-leaguer today, when the Arizona
Diamondbacks host the Florida Marlins in the finale of their four-game series
at Chase Field.
T
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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