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
06/02/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Omar Infante drove in the game-winning run in the eighth as the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 2-1 win at Turner Field.
Infante, who replaced Chipper Jones in the fifth inning after Jones left with inflammation on his right ring finger, went 2-for-2 while Martin Prado added two hits and a run scored for the Braves, who have won eight straight for the first time in almost seven years.
The last time the Braves had an eight-game winning streak was a run from July 4-11, 2003. That team went on to win 101 games that season.
Derek Lowe (8-4) won his third straight start as he was charged with just one run on six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts over eight innings of work.
Jayson Werth drove in the lone run while Brian Schneider scored that run for the Phillies, who have dropped nine of their last 11 games during which the team has scored just 14 runs.
Kyle Kendrick went seven innings in the start and was charged with just one run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Jose Contreras (2-2) was tagged with the loss.
With the score tied in the eighth, the Braves grabbed the lead with Contreras on the mound. Nate McLouth led off with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt from pinch-hitter Melky Cabrera. After Prado struck out, Jason Heyward was issued an intentional walk. Infante followed with a bloop single to right just over the head of Chase Utley to bring home McLouth for a 2-1 lead.
Billy Wagner worked around a two-out walk to Ben Francisco in the ninth to pick up his ninth save of the season.
The Braves struck in the first inning as, with men on first and third and no outs, Jones hit into a double play that scored Prado.
Atlanta nearly took a 2-0 lead in the second as Troy Glaus hit a long fly ball to left, but Raul Ibanez leapt at the wall and got his glove on the ball to keep it from going out, limiting Glaus to a double. Eric Hinske then struck out and Yunel Escobar lined out back to the mound with Kendrick turning the double play to escape the inning.
Philly got the run back in the third on an RBI single from Werth that plated Schneider. Wilson Valdez followed with a bunt single to load the bases, but Utley hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
After giving up a leadoff single to Ryan Howard in the fourth, Lowe got Francisco to pop out and Raul Ibanez to hit into a double play. Lowe then retired the next nine batters in order.
Greg Dobbs led off the eighth with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Schneider. Pinch-hitter Ross Gload then grounded out to move Dobbs to third and Werth was issued an intentional walk, but Valdez flied out to end the inning.
Game Notes
The Braves are 12-7 in day games this season, including a perfect 9-0 at home...Atlanta now embarks on a season-high 11-game road trip, starting with a four-game set in Los Angeles on Thursday...The Braves are an MLB-best 19-6 at home this season...Despite the loss, the Phils lead the National League in road wins with 15, compared to 14 losses...The Phils fell to 9-10 in days games this season...Philly just finished a road trip with a 2-7 mark for the first time since 2006. The team returns home to face San Diego for a four-game set starting on Friday.
<< Nadal reaches semis; Djokovic falls in French quarters
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Four-time champion Rafael Nadal was tested
in his quarterfinal victory, while third-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic
was stunned by Austrian Jurgen Melzer at the French Open on Wednesday.
The second-
<< Biggest World Cup omissions
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serving as manager of a national team is a
pretty thankless job, especially if you are leading one of the premier soccer
powers in the world.
Every single game is scrutinized relentlessly, every decis
<< Serena and Venus reach French Open doubles final
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The mighty Williams sisters, Serena and
Venus, will play in Friday's women's doubles final at the French Open.
Seeking their first title here in 11 years, the top-seeded sisters came from
behind to
<< Singh given exemption into U.S. Open
Far Hills, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time major champion Vijay Singh has
been given a special exemption into the upcoming U.S. Open.
Singh was set to play a sectional qualifier in Ohio next week in an effort to
make the field for th
Ducks sign Brookbank to extension >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Sheldon
Brookbank to a two-year contract extension on Wednesday. Financial terms of
the deal were not released.
The 29-year-old appeared in 66 games last season for A
Mine That Bird puts in work for Lukas >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas had 2009
Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird workout Wednesday morning at Churchill
Downs. The four-year-old gelding worked a half-mile in 48 seconds with his
regular
Altintop extends Bayern deal >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop
signed a one-year extension to his contract on Wednesday that will keep him
with the Champions League finalists until 2011.
Altintop made 15 appearances in le
Carlesimo joins Raptors staff >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors added former NBA and
college head coach P.J. Carlesimo as an assistant on Wednesday.
Carlesimo was last seen on NBA sidelines for the Seattle/Oklahoma City
franchise before be
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