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06/22/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum worked eight innings of one-run ball as the San Francisco Giants took a 3-1 win over the Houston Astros in the opener of a three-game set.
Lincecum (8-2) gave up seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts for the Giants, who have won their past two games. The only run he allowed was unearned. Pat Burrell, Nate Schierholtz and Pablo Sandoval each drove in a run in San Francisco's ninth straight win against the Astros.
Michael Bourn knocked in the lone run while Roy Oswalt (5-9) had a two-start winning streak broken as he gave up two runs on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts over seven innings for the Astros, who have dropped five straight and nine of 10.
San Francisco struggled against Oswalt through the first six innings, but got to him in the seventh. Aubrey Huff singled with one out and Juan Uribe followed with a walk. Burrell then tied the game with a single that put runners at the corners and Sandoval's groundout scored Uribe for a 2-1 lead.
Lincecum set the Astros down in order in the bottom of the seventh and worked around a one-out single from Lance Berkman in the eighth.
The Giants added an insurance run in the ninth on a Schierholtz single that scored Freddy Sanchez, who led off the inning by reaching second on a Chris Johnson error.
Brian Wilson then set the Astros down in order in the ninth to pick up his 20th save of the season.
The Astros took the lead in the third. Jason Castro singled to start out the inning, moved to second on a passed ball and went to third when Tommy Manzella reached base on Edgar Renteria's fielding error. After Oswalt fouled out on a bunt, Bourn doubled home Castro. Jeff Keppinger followed with a walk to load the bases, but Berkman hit into a double play to end the frame.
Oswalt, meanwhile, was doing his job effectively as through the first six innings he didn't allow a single Giant to reach second base, scattering four hits in the process.
Game Notes
San Francisco is 7-0 this season vs. the Astros...Lincecum has won his past three starts and lowered his earned run average to 2.86...Houston went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven men on base.
<< Latos, Padres stifle struggling Rays
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos threw seven scoreless innings
as San Diego clipped Tampa Bay, 2-1, in the opener of a three-game interleague
series at Tropicana Field.
Chase Headley and Will Venable each had an RBI for th
<< Ramirez paces Marlins in rout of Orioles
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez drove in three runs to lead
the Florida Marlins to a 10-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of
a three-game interleague series at Camden Yards.
Cody Ross and Wes Helms delivered
<< Cardinals hit four homers in win over Blue Jays
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday homered for a fourth consecutive
game and Jaime Garcia continued to impress as a full-time member of the
rotation, as St. Louis got by Toronto, 9-4, to open a three-game interleague
set at
<< Moyer leads Phillies over Tribe
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamie Moyer allowed one run in eight
strong innings and tied a dubious major league record in the process, helping
the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians in the
opener
Cubs' Silva to miss next start >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cubs right-hander Carlos Silva will miss his
scheduled start Thursday against his old club Seattle due to a sore right
hamstring.
Manager Lou Piniella was quoted on the team's website as saying Silva w
ChiSox bash Hanson with early offense, top Braves >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Quentin hit a three-run homer and scored
twice, as the Chicago White Sox held off the Atlanta Braves, 9-6, in the
opener of a three-game interleague set at U.S. Cellular Field.
A.J. Pierzynski wen
Arizona WR Dean suspended >>
Tucson, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Wildcats senior wide receiver
Delashaun Dean has been suspended from the team indefinitely.
Head coach Mike Stoops issued a statement that said Dean's infraction was "due
to a violation of tea
Rangers beat Pirates to win ninth straight >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Julio Borbon's three-run homer complimented
six solid innings by Texas starting pitcher Tommy Hunter, as the AL West-
leading Rangers downed the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3, in the opener of a three-
game in
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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