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07/26/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds try to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers for the seventh straight time when the National League Central rivals open a three-game set this evening at Miller Park.
The Reds, who swept a two-game set from the Brewers earlier in the year after taking the final four matchups between the two last season, come into tonight's tilt following their league-worst 12th shutout loss on Sunday. Wandy Rodriguez spun seven innings of one-hit ball for Houston as the Reds fell, 4-0, to the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Mike Leake (7-2) suffered the loss after yielding all four runs on seven hits while walking three and fanning three over 6 1/3 innings for the Reds, who fell a half-game back of the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the NL Central.
Hoping to get the Reds back into first place tonight will be righty Bronson Arroyo, who is 10-5 with a 4.26 earned run average. Arroyo was denied his 11th win Wednesday against Washington, as the Nationals ripped him for seven runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Arroyo has faced the Brewers 20 times (17 starts) and is 9-6 with a 3.80 ERA against them.
Arroyo will be facing a Milwaukee team that has won six straight at home and four straight overall after sweeping a three-game set from Washington over the weekend, culminating with an 8-3 win on Sunday. Casey McGehee hit a three-run homer and Rickie Weeks clubbed a two-run shot for the Brewers, who have won seven of their last 10 overall, while Jonathan Lucroy went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Dave Bush (5-8) earned the win for allowing three runs -- two earned -- on six hits with seven strikeouts and did not issue a walk over six innings.
"I like to work quickly and throw a lot of strikes and kind of force the tempo," Bush said. "Any win is a good one, no matter who it's against."
Getting the call for Milwaukee this evening will be left-handed veteran Randy Wolf, who set dubious career highs in his last outing when he allowed 12 runs and 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings Wednesday in Pittsburgh. The loss dropped him to 7-9 while raising his ERA to 5.20.
However, Wolf has had success against the Reds, having gone 9-2 with a 3.11 ERA in 16 starts.
The Reds also won seven straight games over the Brewers in 2002.
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The Blue Jays will be seeking to extend a nine
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez's quest for his 600th career home run
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Silva tries to bounce back from two miserable
outings this evening when the Chicago Cubs begin a three-game series against
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Silva, who won his first eight decisions of the seas
<< Appalachian State, Villanova stars headline All-America team
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Appalachian State may have lost two-time
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Giants, Marlins ready for clash between scorching teams >>
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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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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