Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/25/2010 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ervin Santana was on top of his game in eight solid innings on the hill, as the LA Angels of Anaheim pulled out a much- needed 6-2 win over the Texas Rangers in the third meeting of a four-game series between the American League West rivals.
Santana (9-7) came in with a 6.06 earned-run average in 16 career starts against the Rangers but silenced the division leaders to two runs on five hits and two walks, finishing with eight strikeouts.
Erick Aybar went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, Jeff Mathis went 2- for-4 with a solo homer and Alberto Callaspo drove in two runs for the Angels, who recorded 13 hits to help snap a three-game slide.
Michael Young and Nelson Cruz each belted a solo home run, while Scott Feldman (5-9) was touched for three runs on seven hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings to take the loss for the Rangers, who had won consecutive one-run contests to start the series and still lead the Angels by six games.
The Angels left a pair in scoring position in the fourth, but broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fifth. Mathis got things started by getting just enough of Feldman's 3-1 offering to clear the wall in left-center. Reggie Willits followed with a single and scored on Aybar's triple to right.
Feldman was pulled with one out and two on in the sixth, and Callaspo, in his second start with his new club since coming over from Kansas City in a trade, greeted reliever Alexi Ogando with an RBI single.
Young got the Rangers on the board with his third home run in as many games in the bottom half, but the Angels pulled away in the seventh.
Darren Oliver gave up three straight singles to start the seventh, the last a Maicer Izturis RBI hit to right. Bobby Abreu followed with a run-scoring double just inside the first-base bag and later scored on Callaspo's sacrifice fly.
Cruz's 13th homer of the year in the bottom half accounted for the final margin, as Fernando Rodney polished off Santana's gem with a scoreless ninth.
Game Notes
Santana came in with a 2.79 ERA in nine road starts this season...Feldman has not won since June 18, a span of six starts...The Angels had lost 10 of 13 at Rangers Ballpark since the start of last season...Texas still leads the season series, 5-3...The Angels will go for the series split on Sunday with Trevor Bell squaring off against undefeated Tommy Hunter.
<< Uribe hits grand slam as Giants rout D-Backs
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Uribe hit his fourth career grand slam and
Aubrey Huff stayed hot, helping the San Francisco Giants to a 10-4 rout of the
Arizona Diamondbacks.
In Friday's contest, Huff went 3-for-5 with two home runs
<< Padres rock Pirates in Matos' return
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Everth Cabrera and Oscar Salazar each drove
in two runs and Mat Latos was solid in his return from the disabled list, as
the San Diego Padres dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2, in the second test
of a th
<< Busch outruns Edwards for ORP win
Clermont, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance,
but had to hold off a furious challenge from Carl Edwards during a green-
white-checkered finish to win Saturday's Kroger 200 Nationwide Series race at
O'Reill
<< Braun hits game-winner as Brewers edge Nationals
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun drove in Rickie Weeks with the
game-winning run in the ninth inning, as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the
Washington Nationals, 4-3, in the middle test of a three-game series.
Braun and Ji
Saunders' homer sparks Mariners over Lester, Red Sox >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Saunders homered in the sixth inning
after Eric Patterson's missed catch ruined a perfect game bid for Boston
starter Jon Lester, and the Mariners went on to take a 5-1 victory over the
Red Sox
Burris carries Stampeders over Roughriders >>
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris threw four touchdown passes as he
led the Calgary Stampeders to a convincing 40-20 win over the Saskatchewan
Roughriders at McMahon Stadium in Alberta.
Burris, who last week threw four inte
Tigers' Ordonez out 6-8 weeks with broken ankle >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers slugger Magglio Ordonez left
Saturday's 3-2 loss against Toronto with a fractured right ankle.
Ordonez was thrown out at home trying to score on a Miguel Cabrera double in
the bottom of the
Conrad's late slam helps Braves cook Marlins >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooks Conrad hit his second career grand slam
during an eight-run eighth inning, as the Atlanta Braves rallied past the
Florida Marlins, 10-5, in the second test of a three-game set between these
two NL
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting