Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh hasn't had much success this season, except for when it plays against Houston. The struggling Pirates shoot for their seventh straight win versus the Astros this year in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.
The Pirates got their season off to a promising start when they swept the Astros in Houston from April 2-4 to open the season. The club then hosted Houston from April 24-26 and took all three games of that set as well.
It was a quick turnaround for a Pirates team that lost 13 of the 16 games they played against the Astros last season. That included seven losses in 10 home games in 2006.
While the Pirates will be trying to extend a winning streak against the Astros, they will also be attempting to halt a six-game losing streak on the season. The club comes into this series having been swept in three games at Atlanta and then in three games at home against Colorado.
Against the Rockies on Wednesday, Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez both homered in a 5-3 setback. Ian Snell (7-7) was tagged for five runs on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk in six innings.
Tom Gorzelanny will shoot for his fourth straight winning decision with tonight's start for Pittsburgh. The left-hander is 3-0 over his last five outings and received a no-decision on Saturday at Atlanta. On that day, Gorzelanny allowed four runs on six hits with seven strikeouts over six innings of work.
The 25-year-old is 9-4 on the year with a solid 3.24 earned run average.
Gorzelanny is just 1-3 in four career starts against the Astros while pitching to a 4.84 ERA against them. His lone victory versus Houston came this season in the left-hander's first start of the year on April 4.
Houston will send Roy Oswalt to the hill tonight. Oswalt is coming off a horrid outing that saw him allow a career-high eight earned runs (nine total) on 10 hits over 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Cubs on July 14. The setback dropped the right-hander to 8-6 on the season with a 3.91 ERA.
The All-Star then made a relief appearance on July 17, recording the final out of the seventh inning of his club's 4-2 win over the Nationals.
The 29-year-old is 10-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 20 games (19 starts) lifetime against Pittsburgh. That includes a no-decision against the club on April 2 of this season.
Houston has lost five of its last six games and sits dead last in the NL Central. However, the club is only a half-game back of Pittsburgh for fifth place in the standings.
The Astros just lost two of three to Washington, including a 7-6 setback on Wednesday that saw Houston plate four runs in the seventh inning to get within one, only to fall short.
Mike Lamb and Luke Scott each homered and scored twice in the setback, while Jason Jennings (1-6) was tagged for seven runs on eight hits through five innings.
The loss dropped Houston to 1-5 on its current nine-game road swing.
<< Indians try to continue success against Rangers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians aim for a sixth consecutive victory
over the Texas Rangers when the clubs play the second test of a four-game
series tonight at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The struggling Indians picked up a much-n
<< Francis set for return to Rockets
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Francis, who played his first five NBA
seasons in Houston, is set for a return to the Rockets.
The Houston Chronicle reports Francis, whose contract was bought out by
Portland last week, will
<< Birmingham set to add Mido
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birmingham announced on Friday that
the club has agreed to terms with Tottenham to acquire striker Mido.
The deal is worth $12.3 million and represents the biggest move the summer by
coach Steve Br
<< Cardinals attempt to rebound against Braves
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After receiving a double dose of bad news on Thursday, the
St. Louis Cardinals will try to get back on their feet when the 2006 world
champs continue a four-game series with the Atlanta Braves tonight at Turner
Field.
The
Bennett hopeful for arena solution to avoid moving Sonics >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - SuperSonics owner Clayton Bennett said on
Thursday he wants to have a solution for a new arena in order to keep the team
in Seattle.
Bennett, who purchased the team and the WNBA's Storm, issued a call to
Boston's Beckett eyes win No. 13 vs. White Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Beckett tries to become the second 13-game winner in
the majors this evening when the Boston Red Sox continue their four-game
series with the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park.
Beckett has dropped two of his
Bard's suspension reduced to two games >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Diego Padres catcher Josh Bard had his
three-game suspension reduced to two games on Thursday.
Bard received the initial suspension after he made contact with umpire Ed
Rapauno in the 11th innin
MLS All-Stars top Scottish champions 2-0 >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of Major League's Soccer's newest
stars, Colombians Juan Pablo Angel and Juan Toja, each scored first half goals
against Scottish Premier League Power, Celtic FC, to lead the North American
league'
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting