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09/06/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Wakefield targets win No. 17 this evening when the Boston Red Sox open a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Wakefield, who is one victory off the pace of major league leaders Chien-Ming Wang and teammate Josh Beckett, has won his last three starts without giving up a run, but has not pitched since August 25 because of a sore back. He scattered three hits against the Chicago White Sox over seven scoreless innings in that one, as he ran his scoreless innings streak to 22 frames.
The 41-year-old knuckleballer, who is 16-10 with a 4.16 earned run average on the year, has also recorded a decision in all of his 26 starts this season and is the first to do so since Jack McDowell posted decisions in his first 27 starts with the White Sox in 1993.
Wakefield defeated the O's the last time he faced them and is 14-13 lifetime against them with four saves and a 4.06 ERA in 43 games, 30 of which have been starts.
Boston enters tonight's tilt on a sour note after it was denied a sweep in its three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays, dropping a 6-4 decision in Wednesday's finale at Fenway Park. Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who had a four-game win streak broken and saw their lead in the AL East shrink to six games over the New York Yankees.
Hideki Okajima (3-2) took the loss, while Curt Schilling allowed three runs and eight hits, with a walk and two strikeouts over six innings in the start.
Baltimore, meanwhile, continued to struggle and was crushed by the equally woeful Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday, 17-2, in the finale of a three-game set at Tropicana Field. Tike Redman doubled in two runs for the Orioles, who have lost 13 of their last 15 games, a stretch that began with a major-league record- setting 30-3 loss to Texas in the first game of a doubleheader on August 22.
Radhames Liz (0-2), in his third major league start, surrendered six hits and four runs through 1 2/3 innings.
Getting the call for the Orioles tonight will be 23-year-old lefty Garrett Olson, who is 1-3 with a 7.22 ERA. Olson was tagged with the loss on Saturday against the Red Sox, as he surrendered four runs and seven his in 5 1/3 innings. He has lost both of his starts to Boston this season.
Boston has won nine of its 14 matchups with the Orioles this season and is 34-16 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign. The Red Sox have also had success in Baltimore, where they have won in 13 of their last 17 visits.
<< Division leaders square off in Anaheim
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Byrd tries to win his fifth straight start this
evening when the red-hot Cleveland Indians begin a four-game series with the
LA Angels of Anaheim in a battle of division leaders at Angel Stadium.
Byrd is co
<< Report: Vikings, Williams agree to contract extension
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Vikings are expected to sign
Pro Bowl nose tackle Pat Williams to a three-year contract extension this
week.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the space-eater will ink the deal
<< D'Backs reclaim first in NL West
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Young hit a three-run double in the fifth
to help the Arizona Diamondbacks reclaim the NL West lead with a 9-6 win over
the San Diego Padres in the finale of a three-game series at Chase Field.
Miguel Mo
<< North Dakota extends Hakstol, assistants
Grand Forks, ND (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of North Dakota announced
Wednesday the five-year contract extension for men's hockey coach Dave
Hakstol, and extended associate head coach Cary Eades and assistant coach Dane
Jackson
Maroth targets first win with Cards in finale against Bucs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Maroth will shoot for his first win in a St. Louis
uniform when the Cardinals wrap up a four-game series versus the Pittsburgh
Pirates this afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Maroth is 5-6 with a 6.79 ERA in 21 games (19 s
Phils' playoff hopes toasted after ugly loss >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 1991 Philadelphia Eagles had one of the best defenses
ever assembled in NFL history. They also had a player nicknamed "Toast" for
his inability to cover the deep ball.
Izel Jenkins played defensive back for the
Tigers reinstate Sheffield from DL >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers reinstated slugger
Gary Sheffield from the 15-day disabled list, where he had been sidelined with
a sore right shoulder since August 22.
The shoulder had bothered Sheffield
Browns CB Bodden arrested >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden was
arrested at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Wednesday night.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Bodden was stopped by police after
putting his 2
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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