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08/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres are making sure that the Chicago Cubs don't get to play spoiler for a second straight series.
The Padres aim tonight for a third straight victory overall and second in a row at Wrigley Field, where they continue a four-game set versus the Cubs.
The Cubs took two of three from St. Louis over the weekend to knock the Cardinals out of first-place in the National League Central. The Padres, though, made sure that the Cubs didn't get a chance to impact the standings again on Monday, as they scored the game's first five runs en route to a 9-5 triumph.
Miguel Tejada had four of San Diego's 15 hits, drove in two runs and also scored twice for the Padres, who have won seven of eight. They also snapped a five-game slide at Wrigley Field and increased their lead atop the NL West to four games over San Francisco.
"He hits all pitches and hits good pitching," Padres manager Bud Black said about Tejada. "We've seen him work the left-field line, we've seen him hit the ball in the left-field gap, we've seen him drive the ball to right-center and we've seen him single to right."
Chris Denorfia added three hits, two RBI and two runs scored for San Diego, and Kevin Correia became the fourth Padres pitcher this season to reach 10 victories after yielding just five hits over six shutout innings.
Jon Garland is also a 10-game winner, and he will look to improve on his 11-8 mark and 3.41 earned run average with the Padres this year tonight.
The right-hander has split his last four starts despite a 2.45 ERA and is coming off a victory over the Pirates on Thursday in which he threw six scoreless innings of one-hit, four-walk ball.
Garland, 30, is 3-4 with a 4.85 ERA in 10 career starts versus the Cubs, six of those starts.
Garland likely won't have to face Derrek Lee tonight after the Chicago first baseman received an epidural shot in his back on Monday due to a bulging disk. Lee, who has homered in three straight games, sat out last night's opener and could miss the next few days of action.
Kosuke Fukudome had three hits and drove in two runs last night, while Blake DeWitt added a two-run homer for a Cubs team that has lost four of six and 15 of 19.
Tom Gorzelanny took the loss in Monday's opener, allowing five runs over 6 1/3 innings.
Chicago hopes to avoid an early hole tonight with Randy Wells set to take the hill. The 27-year-old is 0-3 over his last four starts and is coming off a no- decision versus the Giants on Thursday.
Wells allowed seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits over five innings in that game. The righty was also touched for three homers, giving him six allowed over his four-game winless drought.
"I can't keep putting the team in a hole like that when I go out and pitch," said a frustrated Wells. "It's not professional, it's not acceptable. I just chalk it up as a bad day and move on to the next one."
Wells is 5-10 with a 4.60 ERA this year and faces the Padres for the second time in his career tonight. That first meeting came on May 23 of last season, and he took the loss after yielding three runs over seven frames.
The Padres and Cubs are meeting for the first time since San Diego took five of nine matchups a year ago. San Diego, however, was swept in three games at Wrigley Field from May 12-14 of last year.
<< Dodgers, Rockies start key series at Chavez Ravine
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will help Joe Torr
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After putting the brakes on their first losing streak under
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have enjoyed plenty of success in their
recent meetings with the Houston Astros. Considering the way Johan Santana has
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Sant
Pirates continue set with Marlins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins have lost four consecutive games, and
an ineffective offense has been a big reason for the team's current woes.
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Pittsburgh Pirates
Cardinals try to bounce back in battle with Brewers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - August is Albert Pujols' month to shine, and the St. Louis
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Chiefs bring in QB Stull >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs have signed
quarterback Bill Stull, who went undrafted after a standout collegiate career
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Stull started 26 of the 32 games he played for the Panthers and
Budweiser moving sponsorship to Harvick's No.29 team in 2011 >>
Welcome, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Harvick will become NASCAR's next "Bud
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Richard Childress Racing announced on Tuesday that Budweiser will serve as
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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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