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07/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after starter Chris Capuano earned his first victory in over three years, the Milwaukee Brewers will try to extend their series winning streak over the Pittsburgh Pirates to six games this evening in the second contest of a four-game series at PNC Park.
Capuano took the hill in last night's opener and made his first start since June 3. He gave up one run -- a run-scoring triple by Ronny Cedeno -- on three hits over five innings to notch his first victory since May 7, 2007, snapping a 13-decision losing streak with a 3-1 triumph.
"I have a long view, a long perspective of baseball," said Capuano, who missed all of 2008 and 2009 recovering from Tommy John surgery. "I knew that I would eventually get more wins, but I'm just really happy I could get one with the Brewers, with this team."
Jeff Karstens didn't pitch poorly in defeat for the Pirates, holding the Brewers to just three hits. However, one was a solo home run by Prince Fielder, his National League-leading 23rd long ball of the season, and another a two-run homer by Rickie Weeks.
"I felt I had a really good rhythm, throwing strikes," Karstens said. "When I got ahead I was expanding the zone a little bit, making them chase."
John Axford secured the victory for the Brewers and Capuano with a scoreless ninth inning, earning his 12th save and Milwaukee's sixth victory in its last eight games overall.
Weeks has three homers in his last two games and is batting .400 (10-for-25) over a six-game hitting streak with seven RBI. He has a hit in both of his career at-bats versus Pirates rookie Brad Lincoln, who is 0-1 in two starts since winning his first MLB game on June 30.
The fourth overall pick of the 2006 draft, Lincoln has yielded eight runs over his last 11 innings. That includes a no-decision versus the Brewers on July 11 in which he gave up three runs on seven hits, including homers by Ryan Braun and George Kottaras, over six innings of a 6-5 setback in his first career start versus Milwaukee.
The 25-year-old righty is 1-3 with a 5.14 earned run average on the season and 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA over his first two career home starts.
Lincoln's Pirates could be without center fielder and leadoff hitter Andrew McCutchen after he sat out Monday's game due to a right shoulder injury suffered on Sunday versus Houston. Without McCutchen, Pittsburgh failed to secure a third straight win and lost for the eighth time in its last 10 games.
The Pirates have lost nine of 12 to the Brewers this year, including five of six at home, and will try to snap Dave Bush's streak of six straight starts having allowed two runs or fewer.
Bush is pitching to a 2.39 ERA in that span and beat the Pirates on July 10, holding them to two runs over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander also recorded a win at PNC Park on April 20 with seven shutout innings and is 5-4 with a 4.28 ERA lifetime against the Pirates.
The 30-year-old, who was born in Pittsburgh, lost to the Braves last time out on Thursday despite giving up just two solo homers and seven hits total in six innings of a 2-1 setback. Bush fell to 4-7 on the season with a 4.07 ERA.
<< Red Sox hand ball to Wakefield in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting an important West Coast road trip off to a
good start, the Boston Red Sox shoot for a second straight win over the
Oakland Athletics when the teams continue a three-game series tonight at the
Coliseum.
Bosto
<< Hughes goes for 12th win in Yankees-Angels opener
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Hughes takes aim at win No. 12 when the New York
Yankees open a brief two-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
this evening at Yankee Stadium.
Hughes, the loser in last Tuesday's All-Star Game, won six o
<< Garza, Rays vie to continue success against Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Garza takes aim at win No. 11 when the Tampa Bay Rays
and Baltimore Orioles continue a three-game set this evening at Camden Yards.
Getting that win tonight shouldn't be a problem for Garza, who is 8-1 with a
2.48 ear
<< Royals try to make it two in a row over Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals try to string back-to-back wins
together this evening, when they play the middle test of their three-game
series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals halted a six-game losing
Indians take aim at sixth straight win in middle tilt with Minnesota >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians are beginning to atone for a
miserable first half of the season with a terrific start to their second.
The rejuvenated Indians take aim at a sixth consecutive victory following the
All-Star break whe
Black takes new deal into Padres/Braves series >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Under Bud Black, the Padres have become one of the biggest
successful surprises in 2010. The San Diego manager is now reaping the rewards
of that achievement.
The Padres take the field for the first time since Black wa
Hurricanes sign D Carson >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to terms with
defenseman Brett Carson on a one-year, two-way contract on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old completed his first full NHL season in 2009-10 with two goals
and 12 points i
Tigers place Inge on DL >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers on Tuesday placed third
baseman Brandon Inge on the 15-day disabled list with a non-displaced fracture
of the fifth metacarpal on his left hand.
Inge was hit on the hand by a pitch
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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