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07/21/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer returned to Philadelphia on Wednesday to have his left elbow examined.
The 47-year-old Moyer is scheduled to see team doctors Thursday.
He threw only 18 pitches before leaving Tuesday's game with a left elbow strain. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Moyer is headed to the disabled list.
Moyer is 9-9 with a 4.84 ERA in 19 starts this season.
<< Pirates C Doumit leaves Wednesday's game
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit left
Wednesday's game against Milwaukee after feeling light-headed and nauseous
following a first inning collision at home plate.
The Brewers loaded the bases for
<< Medalist Kang escapes with narrow victory at U.S. Girls' Junior
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stroke play medalist Danielle Kang
squeezed past 17-year-old Colombian Alejandra Cangrejo, 1-up, in the first
round of match play Wednesday at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.
Kang, of Tho
<< Report: Georgia WR Green under investigation
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green is the
latest target of an NCAA investigation revolving around a Miami party hosted
by sports agents.
According to TMZ, Green allegedly attended a party at the Fontai
<< CFL Previews - July 22-24 - Week Four
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (1-2) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (2-1)
DATE & TIME: Thursday, July 22, 7:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: Ranked fifth in the most recent power rankings in the CFL, the
Montreal Alouettes
Alvarez homers twice as Pirates crush Brewers >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delwyn Young homered and drove in five
runs and Pedro Alvarez went deep twice for a second straight night to power
Pittsburgh past Milwaukee, 15-3, in the third meeting of a four-game set.
Young fi
Tigers snap seven-game skid behind Scherzer, Laird >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Max Scherzer turned in seven scoreless innings
and Gerald Laird hit an early two-run blast as Detroit snapped a seven-game
skid by topping Texas, 4-1, in the finale of a three-game series from Comerica
Park.
Former manager Ralph Houk dies >>
Winter Haven, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ralph Houk, who managed the New York
Yankees to consecutive World Series championships in 1961-62, passed away
Wednesday at the age of 90.
Houk, who played as a backup catcher for the Yankees fr
Cust and Watson power Athletics past Red Sox >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Cust finished 2-for-3 with a two-run
homer and scored twice as Oakland took down Boston, 6-4, in the rubber match
of a three-game set.
Rajai Davis added two RBI and Matt Watson slugged his first
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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