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07/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-handed ace Josh Johnson can get back on the winning track tonight when the Florida Marlins visit Turner Field to open a three-game series with the National League East Division-leading Atlanta Braves.
Johnson had won three straight decisions and trimmed his earned run average to a stingy 1.80 before his last outing, a touch-luck 2-1 loss to San Diego in which he allowed just five hits and two runs in eight innings.
The defeat bumped his ERA slightly to 1.83.
Prior to the loss to the Padres, Johnson had permitted just five runs in his previous eight starts, while going 5-1 in those games and pitching at least seven innings seven times.
He is 4-2 lifetime against Atlanta with a 2.74 ERA in 69 innings.
The Marlins enter the series in fourth place in a hotly-contested NL East, trailing the front-running Braves by 8 1/2 games and sitting 4 1/2 behind the third-place Philadelphia Phillies.
Tonight Atlanta turns to 24-year-old righty Kris Medlen, who's unbeaten since making the shift from full-time reliever to starter and makes his first career start against Florida.
The former 10th-round draft pick made 12 straight appearances out of the bullpen before opening a May 8 game against Philadelphia with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball.
He pitched one last inning of scoreless relief against Arizona on May 14, but has been exclusively a starter since, going 4-0 in eight tries, including a 3-1 win over Detroit in his last outing on June 25.
In that game, Medlen allowed six hits and a run in 6 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out five.
He's made eight career appearances against the Marlins while posting a 4.15 ERA in 8 2/3 innings.
On Wednesday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, pinch-hitter Josh Thole singled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and the New York Mets downed the mistake- prone Marlins, 6-5, to avert a three-game sweep at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Chris Volstad was charged with six hits and four runs -- three earned -- over five innings for the Marlins, who committed four errors and lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Florida had 17 hits, but left 13 men on base.
In Atlanta, Jair Jurrjens pitched into the sixth inning in his return to the rotation and singled in a run as the Braves downed Washington, 4-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Jurrjens (1-3), who was on the disabled list due to a strained left hamstring, was charged with six hits and a run over five-plus frames. The right-hander also walked two batters and had six strikeouts in just his sixth start of the season.
Brian McCann doubled in a run and Martin Prado continued his successful season with an RBI as the Braves posted their 18th victory in their last 21 home games.
<< Brewers, Cardinals battle again in St. Louis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of surprising 7-4 pitchers take the mound tonight
when the St. Louis Cardinals host the Milwaukee Brewers in game two of a four-
game series between National League Central Division rivals at Busch Stadium.
Thursday
<< Latos tries to stay hot as Padres take on Oswalt and the Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos is emerging as one of the best young pitchers in
baseball.
Tonight he tries to win his fourth straight decision against one of the better
pitchers in the National League over the past decade in Roy Oswalt, as the
<< New-look D-Backs play host to Dodgers in Gibson's debut as manager
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks will have a new manager in place
this evening when they open a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers
at Chase Field.
With the Diamondbacks 17 games under .500 at 31-48 and 15 games back of
<< Nats hope to deal Mets, Niese another loss
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals continued to be a thorn in the
side of the New York Mets in the opener of this set on Thursday. Tonight, Jon
Niese tries to get the Mets back on track and win his fifth straight decision
in the second
A's hope to slow down LaPorta in opener with Tribe >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A big reason for Cleveland's resurgence has been the hot
bat of Matt LaPorta, who has homered in three straight games and will try to
make it four tonight in the opener of a three-game series versus the Oakland
Athletics at P
Angels rest hopes on Saunders vs. Royals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Royals haven't presented the Angels with much of an
obstacle over the last two-plus seasons and Los Angeles starter Joe Saunders
hasn't been exempt from that success.
Saunders aims to remain undefeated in his
Hardcore Hoop Talk: The Free Agent Fantasy >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The quickest way to build a championship
contender is through free agency. That was the message delivered by Donnie
Walsh when he replaced Isiah Thomas as president of basketball operations for
the Knicks in Apri
Capitals sign G Sabourin >>
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals have signed free
agent goaltender Dany Sabourin to a one-year contract.
Sabourin, 29, has played in 57 career NHL games over parts of five seasons
with Calgary, Pittsburgh a
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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