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07/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In danger of losing a fourth straight game, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in need of a spark. That could come from work-horse Chad Billingsley, who will pitch on three days' rest for the first time in his career this afternoon in the continuation of a three-game series versus the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.
With Clayton Kershaw serving a five-game suspension for intentionally hitting San Francisco's Aaron Rowand in a game last week, the Dodgers are in need of a starter for this contest and will go with Billingsley on short rest.
Billingsley will take the hill after throwing six shutout innings in a 2-0 win over the Padres on Tuesday. The right-hander threw 84 pitches six days after firing a five-hit shutout over the Giants.
"There's always a little concern because we don't do [short rest] much," LA pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said on his team's website. "I think we only did it with Derek Lowe before. You never really know. But the way he's throwing and his last outing, we're using his judgment."
Billingsley, who turned 26 on Thursday, is 9-5 with a 4.00 earned run average this year and his win over the Giants last week improved him to 5-2 with a 3.22 ERA in his career against them. Both shutouts thrown by Billingsley in his career have come versus San Francisco.
He'll try to right the ship for the Dodgers, who are just 5-10 since the All- Star break after losing last night's opener to the Giants, 6-5. With San Francisco All-Star closer Brian Wilson unavailable due to a back ailment, the Dodgers scored three times in the ninth inning to get within one, but the rally fell short.
Scott Podsednik tripled in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the frame, while Matt Kemp's two-out single to center scored Rafael Furcal. However, Chris Ray got Casey Blake to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.
"The last inning we're four down and it started from the first swing of the bat," said LA manager Joe Torre on his team's website. "Nobody threw their hands up. At the end we had the tying run at third, the possible winning run at first and an RBI guy at the plate."
Furcal went 3-for-3 with a homer run, two walks and a double for the Dodgers, who remained seven games behind first-place San Diego in the National League West, while the Giants moved within 2 1/2 games of the top spot by winning for the seventh time in nine games.
Aubrey Huff paced San Francisco's offense with three hits, a home run and three RBI, while Ray's save preserved the win for Tim Lincecum, who gave up two early runs over seven innings while striking out nine.
The Giants will try to make it two victories in a row tonight behind Barry Zito, but he has just one win over his last eight starts and will try to avoid a third straight losing start today.
The left-hander yielded two runs over 7 1/3 innings of a tough-luck loss to the Dodgers and Billingsley on July 21, then gave up three runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 frames of a 4-3 defeat to the Marlins on Monday.
Zito, 32, is now 8-6 with a 3.49 ERA this year and his career record versus the Dodgers slipped to an even 6-6 with a 4.01 ERA. He is, however, 6-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 11 home starts this season.
Los Angeles has won six of 10 from the Giants this season.
<< Tigers continue road series with Red Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers finally halted a nine-game road losing
streak last night and will aim for a second straight win over the Boston Red
Sox today at Fenway Park.
In Friday's opener, Jhonny Peralta hit a pair of homers and d
<< Blue Jays hope to stay hot versus Indians
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays are riding a four-game winning streak
and will attempt to continue the string of strong play against the Cleveland
Indians in the second of three weekend games at Rogers Centre.
Righty Jake Westbrook
<< Wick's two home runs power Canada over Italy
Thunder Bay, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With upsets aplenty and coming off a scare
of their own, Team Canada wasn't taking any chances against an overmatched
Italian squad in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Baseball Championships.
A day aft
<< Cuba edges U.S. in thrilling quarterfinal
Thunder Bay, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a dramatic quarterfinal matchup, one
can only imagine what else is in store for the final weekend of the World
Junior Baseball Championship.
Omar Luis threw nine solid innings in a gutsy 144-pitch eff
Winds of change surround Brewers-Astros clash >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Things sure are changing in the Astros' clubhouse in a
hurry, but that hasn't stopped the club from putting together a little win
streak.
Having already traded one face of the franchise, Houston appears on the verge
of sh
White Sox aim for 13th straight home win vs. A's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago will attempt to extend its home winning streak to
13 consecutive games tonight as they continue a three-game weekend set at
U.S. Cellular Field against the Oakland Athletics.
Yesterday, Gordon Beckham had two hits
Angels shoot for another win over first-place Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim continue their quest to
gain ground on the Texas Rangers as the top two teams in the AL West continue
their three-game weekend series.
Newly-acquired Dan Haren will make his second start f
Rockies hope to break out bats against vs. Cubs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The host Colorado Rockies can make it three straight in
suddenly potent offensive style tonight when the Chicago Cubs head to Coors
Field for the second of three games.
Colorado, which had lost eight straight before Thursd
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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