05/10/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros opened their 10-game road trip on a good note, and will try to stay on track tonight in the second test of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.
The Astros, who have won six of seven overall, recorded a 7-1 victory over the Dodgers in Friday's series opener. Lance Berkman belted a two-run homer and Carlos Lee also drove in two runs to lead the charge. Berkman, who had three hits, has 16 in his last 20 at-bats.
Brian Moehler, making his first start since September of 2006 when he was with Florida, threw five shutout innings to get the win. Moehler started in place of the injured Wandy Rodriguez, allowing five hits and one walk.
Houston will also visit San Francisco and Texas on the current trek.
The Astros will send Chris Sampson to the hill on Saturday, and he is 1-3 with a 7.96 earned run average in six starts this season.
Sampson is 0-1 in his past two outings, recording a no decision the previous time out on May 4 versus Milwaukee. He was reached for five runs and nine hits over 3 1/3 innings of an 8-6 Houston win.
The right-handed Texas Tech product has faced the Dodgers just once in his career on July 23 last season. He was pounded for four runs and eight hits in five innings of a 10-2 loss at Minute Maid Park.
Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe suffered the loss last night, yielding eight hits and six runs over 5 1/3 innings. James Loney and Blake DeWitt each had two hits for the Dodgers, losers of two straight.
Toeing the rubber for LA this evening will be Chad Billingsley, who is 2-4 with a 4.54 earned run average in eight games (six starts) this season.
Billingsley has won consecutive starts since a personal four-game losing streak, and held the New York Mets to one run and five hits in six innings on Monday at Chavez Ravine.
The righty is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two career starts against Houston.
Houston won four of its seven meetings with the Dodgers last season.
<< Magic try to even East semis with Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic attempt to even their Eastern Conference
semifinal series with the Detroit Pistons at two games apiece, as the teams
battle tonight at Amway Arena.
After losing Games 1 and 2 at The Palace of Auburn Hills
<< Braves resume series with Bucos at PNC Park
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta lefty Chuck James looks for a third straight
victory tonight, when the Braves enter PNC Park for the second installment of
a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
James opened his 2008 season wit
<< Mets, Reds to play two at Shea
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johan Santana gets the nod for the New York Mets tonight,
when he takes on the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of a doubleheader at
Shea Stadium.
Friday's opener of a three-game series between the Reds and Mets was
<< Carlisle gets four-year deal to coach Mavs
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Carlisle has come to terms on a four-year
contract to become head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks website posted a story late Friday night that confirmed the
signing, which is expected
Padres' Maddux goes for win No. 350 vs. Rockies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Maddux will try again for career win No. 350 when he
leads the San Diego Padres tonight in the second test of a three-game series
versus the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park.
Maddux has lost two straight starts and
Sheets, Brewers square off with Cards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Sheets will try to keep his perfect record intact this
evening, when he leads the Milwaukee Brewers in the second installment of a
four-game series versus the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.
Sheets is 4-0 wit
Red-hot Marlins fish for another win at Washington >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NL East-leading Florida Marlins will try to extend
their season-high winning streak to six games tonight, when they resume a
seven-game road trip with the second of three straight meetings with
Washing
White Sox, Mariners to battle again at Safeco >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the midst of a 10-game road trip, the Chicago White Sox
will try to keep the good times rolling when they battle the Seattle Mariners
tonight in the second installment of a three-game set at Safeco Field.
While the W
MySportsbook.com is considered one of the finest online sportsbook according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.
MySportsbook is offering a free printable NFL football office pool sheets. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury. Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your nfl football pool sheets needs.
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 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 | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting