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
07/22/2007 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlon Byrd matched his career high with five RBI as the Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-5, in the third of a four-game set at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Byrd had a two-run double in the first and a three-run triple in the seventh for the Rangers, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Rangers starter Jamey Wright went just 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs -- one earned -- on one hit with six walks and one strikeout. Ron Mahay (2-0) got the win, allowing one run, two hits and striking out five in 2 2/3 innings of relief.
Grady Sizemore homered for the Indians, who had won three of four.
Cleveland starter Cliff Lee (5-7) went 6 2/3 frames, allowing seven runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
Texas scored five times in the first. Mark Teixeira hit a double to score Ramon Vazquez and, after Sammy Sosa stuck out, Byrd doubled to score Michael Young and Teixeira. Brad Wilkerson followed with a single to plate Byrd and Gerald Laird then doubled to left-center to score Wilkerson.
Cleveland loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a fielding error by third baseman Travis Metcalf, and two walks. Wright then walked Mike Rouse and hit Josh Barfield with a pitch to plate a second run.
Ron Mahay then entered the game for the Rangers and Sizemore drove in a run with a groundout to cut Cleveland's deficit to 5-3.
Sizemore led off the top of the seventh with his 17th homer of the year, a shot to right-center, pulling the Indians within one.
Texas, though, extended its lead in the bottom half thanks to Byrd's three-run triple to left-center.
Victor Martinez's ground out scored Josh Barfield in the ninth, capping the scoring.
Game Notes
Sosa was okay after leaving the game in the third inning when he was hit on the helmet with a pitch... Byrd also had five RBI on August 29, 2004, for Philadelphia against Milwaukee...Cleveland's Ryan Garko extended his career- best hitting streak to 15 games...Attendance was 44,554.
<< Mariners, Blue Jays try to get offenses going at Rogers Centre
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shut out for the fourth time this season, the Seattle
Mariners try to bounce back this afternoon as they challenge the Toronto Blue
Jays in the finale of a three-game set at the Rogers Centre.
On Saturday the Seattle offen
<< Orioles, Athletics conclude set in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Losers of two of their last three, the Baltimore Orioles
conclude their West Coast swing this afternoon at McAfee Coliseum as they face
off against the Oakland Athletics in the finale of a three-game set.
On Saturday night
<< Twins go for sweep of Angels
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Losers of two straight and five of the last six, the LA
Angels of Anaheim try to salvage a win as they close out a three-game set
against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome this afternoon.
On Saturday Joe Mauer produced
<< A-Rod tries to inch closer to 500 homers as Yanks host Rays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shooting for their third straight victory, the New York
Yankees close out a four-game set against division rival Tampa Bay this
afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
After being crushed in the series opener on Friday night by a sco
Byrd is the word: Rangers try for split with Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having snapped a three-game slide on Saturday, the Texas
Rangers close out a four-game set against the Cleveland Indians tonight at
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Marlon Byrd erupted for five RBI, matching a career-high, a
Giants, Brewers wrap anticipated set in Milwaukee >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers will get one last look at Barry Bonds
at home this season when they try to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of
the San Francisco Giants this afternoon at Miller Park.
The Brewers came into this s
Unpack your bags: Rockies conclude road swing against Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies will try to end their road trip on a
positive note when they play the final contest of a four-game series this
afternoon with the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium.
The Rockies have lost two of three
Peavy, Padres aim to get back on track against Phillies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jake Peavy will try for his first win in over a month when
his San Diego Padres conclude a four-game series with the Philadelphia
Phillies this afternoon at Petco Park.
Peavy's last victory came on June 19 against Baltimo
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