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07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose any ground in the competitive National League East Division. Tonight they have a good shot at bouncing back with Tim Hudson on the mound in the third test of a four-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers at Turner Field.
After taking the opener of this series by a 2-1 score on Thursday, the Braves dropped a 9-3 decision last night and starter Tommy Hanson was roughed up for four runs -- three earned -- in five innings to suffer the loss. Kenshin Kawakami did no better by allowing three runs in an inning of work.
"When you don't pitch and you don't play defense and you don't get any timely hits, that's a good formula for getting taken out behind the woodshed," Braves veteran Chipper Jones said.
Troy Glaus and Brain McCann both knocked in a run and Jones ended 0-for-3 for the Braves, who still lead the NL East by five games over New York and 5 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia. The Mets and Phils lost on Friday.
Atlanta lost for just the second time in seven tries and hopes Hudson can pitch the ballclub back into the win column. Hudson, who has alternated wins and losses over his previous seven decisions, pitched seven shutout innings in last Saturday's 4-0 road victory against the Mets.
Hudson allowed four hits, struck out three and issued a pair of walks to improve to 9-4 in 18 starts and lower his ERA to 2.30. He will try to remain dominant at home, as he sports a 5-2 record in seven trips to the Turner Field mound. Hudson will also face Milwaukee for a second time in 2010 and beat the Brewers back on May 11 at Miller Park, hurling six innings of one-run ball in an 11-3 rout.
The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.98 earned run average in seven career starts against the Brewers.
Milwaukee won for the fourth time in five tries with its six-run victory over the Braves and got a decent performance from starter Randy Wolf. The southpaw held the Braves to three runs and seven hits in six innings, while Todd Coffey, Zach Braddock, Kameron Loe and Trevor Hoffman went the rest of the way to preserve the win.
"I think I've only had a few good games in this stadium, but I felt pretty good today," Wolf said. "You have to have a good day to really pitch well here. It's gratifying to pitch well against a good team, especially knowing my history of definitely not being Cy Young in this stadium."
Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer, Prince Fielder knocked in a pair of runs and both Casey McGehee and Carlos Gomez recorded three hits for the Brewers, who are nine games off the pace in the NL Central and will also visit Pittsburgh for four contests on the trek.
Brewers starter Chris Narveson hopes his first career appearance against Atlanta goes better than he has fared lately. He'll take the hill tonight and is 7-6 with a 6.02 ERA in 23 games, 14 of which have been starts, this season.
Since winning two straight and three of four decisions, Narveson has dropped consecutive trips to the hill and is coming off a nightmare performance on July 7 in a 15-2 setback versus San Francisco. He was reached for 10 runs -- nine earned -- and nine hits through 3 1/3 innings.
The left-hander is 4-3 in 12 games (7 starts) as the guest in 2010.
The Braves had won five straight and seven of their last eight versus the Brewers before last night's game.
<< Richard, Padres resume series vs. D'Backs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard was bailed out by his offense the last time
he took the mound. The San Diego Padres hope that Richard won't need the help
when he gets the nod tonight in the second installment of a three-game series
versus
<< Mets try to rebound against homestanding Giants
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets are hoping something will give when they
take on the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in the third installment of a
four-game set at AT&T Park.
New York has lost the first two games of this set
<< Szavay, Zahlavova Strycova advance to Prague final
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Agnes Szavay and Barbora Zahlavova
Strycova were both easy semifinal winners Saturday at the $220,000 Prague Open
tennis event.
Szavay, last week's Budapest titlist, downed unseeded Czech Lucie
<< Oosthuizen five clear with 2nd round completed
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A wind delay Friday forced the
completion of the second round of the British Open into Saturday morning.
Louis Oosthuizen remained atop the leaderboard as he finished his five-under
67 on Fri
Soderling to meet Almagro in Swedish Open finale >>
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Swedish stalwart Robin Soderling
and Nicolas Almagro will square off in the Swedish Open final after each won
their respective semifinal matches on Saturday.
Soderling lost the first set for
Reds starter Volquez takes ball vs. Rockies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One-time Cincinnati staff ace Edinson Volquez makes a long-
awaited return to the major leagues tonight, when the Reds host the Colorado
Rockies in the middle game of a three-game series at Great American Ball Park.
A 1
Astros vie to continue mastery of Buccos >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros can continue a season's worth of success
against the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight, when the teams get together for the
middle game of a three-game series at PNC Park.
Houston made it seven in a row aga
Marlins ace Johnson squares off with Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Johnson can match a Washington pitching gem with one
of his own tonight, when the Florida Marlins ace takes on the Nationals in the
second test of a three-game series between NL East Division foes at Sun Life
Stadium
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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