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09/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have missed the playoffs only once in the previous seven years, but are in danger of being left out for the first time since the 2006 campaign.
The Red Sox are seven games off the wild card lead and eight games behind for the top spot in the American League East Division, and will shoot for a series win tonight against the division-foe Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. They were able to even the set with Wednesday's 9-6 come-from-behind victory in which Boston scored six runs during the seventh inning.
Marco Scutaro hit a two-run homer, Victor Martinez plated a run with a double and Adrian Beltre capped the scoring with a three-run blast for the Red Sox, who rebounded from Tuesday's series opening loss and improved to 2-3 on a six- game road trip. J.D. Drew also homered in the win. Beltre needs three RBI for 1,000 in his career and leads the Red Sox with 91 for the season.
Jon Lester started for the victors and recorded the win, despite allowing eight hits and five runs over six innings. The lefty, who fanned 10 batters, is now 13-0 lifetime against the Orioles.
"I don't think it really matters how many losses in a row we have or wins," Lester said. "We just need to chip away and get some wins. It's obviously nice to come back tonight and do that."
Jonathan Papelbon posted a scoreless ninth for his 34th save.
Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka has allowed four runs in three straight and four of five starts, and is expected to take the mound Thursday night. He is 0-1 with a 5.31 earned run average in his last three trips to the hill and did not record a decision in his last start on August 21 versus Toronto.
The right-hander lasted eight innings and was reached for four runs and six hits with eight strikeouts. He has struck out at least six batters in four straight starts and is 8-4 in 19 outings this season. Matsuzaka, who is 4-2 in 11 road appearances this season, made his 2010 debut at Baltimore on May 1 and suffered the loss in the 12-9 decision. The Orioles posted seven runs -- six earned -- in 4 2/3 innings against the Japanese hurler.
Matsuzaka is 3-2 with a 5.65 ERA in seven career starts against the O's.
Baltimore scored four runs in the first inning and had a 5-3 lead before surrendering six runs in the seventh. Mark Hendrickson took the loss for his contributions to the explosion, as he allowed three runs in 1 1/3 innings.
Jake Arrieta tossed the first five innings and allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts, while Alfredo Simon was also touched for three runs in relief for the Orioles, who had a four-game winning streak halted.
"Jake battled his way through five innings and kept the damage to a minimum, but there are a lot of good players over there with a track record, and they make you pay for the mistakes you do make," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said on the club's website.
Showalter is still one win away from 900 career victories. He will become the 64th manager in baseball history to achieve the feat.
Adam Jones drove in two runs in last night's loss, and both Ty Wigginton and Felix Pie finished with two hits and an RBI. Jones left the game in the seventh inning with back soreness, but should be able to play today. Jake Fox took over for Jones in the outfield.
Since losing five consecutive starts more than a month ago, Orioles starter Brad Bergesen has turned things around to the tune of a 3-0 mark with a 2.70 ERA in his last six starts, with his team going 5-1 in that span. He is slated to make his 25th appearance (23rd start) Thursday night.
In his most recent start at Angel Stadium last Friday, Bergesen held the homestanding Angels to only a run and four hits in eight innings. The righty improved to 6-9 with a 5.55 ERA this season.
Bergesen is 1-1 in two starts against Boston this season and 1-2 lifetime with a 3.71 ERA in four starts in this series.
Boston and Baltimore have split 14 matchups this season.
<< Sharks make it official with Niemi
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks officially added former
Chicago netminder Antti Niemi on Thursday, signing him to a one-year deal.
While financial terms were undisclosed, earlier reports indicated it is for $2
million.
<< Sharks sign G Antti Niemi
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -The San Jose Sharks have signed the goalie who helped knock them out of the playoffs, agreeing to a one-year, $2 million deal with Antti Niemi.The team announced the deal Thursday.Niemi stopped 129 of 136 shots in the Western
<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 2nd
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
Group C: Puerto Rico vs. Ivory Coast, 9 a.m. (Kayseri)
Group D: Spain vs. Canada, 9 a.m. (Izmir)
Group A: Angola vs. Australia, 9:30 a.m. (Kayseri)
Group B: USA vs. Tunisia, 9:30 a.m. (Istanbul)
Group C: Greece v
<< Buffalo Bills 2010 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills and Chan Gailey have both been absent from
the NFL playoffs for a long time. Almost exactly the same amount of time,
actually.
The Bills' last playoff foray came on Jan. 8, 2000, when they were 22-16 lose
Skidding Indians head out west to battle Mariners >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians will take their four-game losing
streak out west for seven straight games starting with tonight's opener of a
four-game series against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
The Indians are coming off
LPGA Taiwan to start in 2011 >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The LPGA Tour announced Thursday that the
LPGA Taiwan has been scheduled for October 2011 at Sunrise Golf & Country
Club.
The LPGA-sanctioned event will be co-sponsored by the Golf Associati
Mound Presence: A's lefty Braden faces Yankees again >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics starter Dallas Braden won't have to worry
about Alex Rodriguez running across his pitching mound this afternoon due to
the slugging third baseman currently being on the disabled list.
Braden, making hi
Phillies make a quick stop at Colorado >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Given how well the Phillies have played out west over the
last week, they certainly won't mind staying there for an extra game. It
doesn't hurt that its a matchup against the Rockies either.
Philadelphia will try
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.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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