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08/21/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Enright pitched into the seventh inning and Justin Upton finally got the best of Ubaldo Jimenez by hitting the go- ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, as Arizona topped Colorado, 3-1, at Chase Field.
Enright (4-2) gave up three hits and a run over 6 2/3 innings. The right- hander moved to 3-0 over his last seven starts and hasn't lost since July 11 against Florida.
Jimenez (17-4) failed in his third attempt to become the first Rockies pitcher to win 18 games in a single season. Kevin Ritz (1996), Pedro Astacio (1999) and Jeff Francis (2007) all won 17 games for the Rockies.
Jimenez allowed three hits and the three runs over six innings.
Colorado, which suffered a 4-3 loss in 10 innings on Friday, left two men on base in the seventh inning and then threatened in the ninth against Juan Gutierrez. Ian Stewart was hit by a pitch and Chris Iannetta singled with one out. Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi flied out and pinch-hitter Melvin Mora fanned as Gutierrez earned his fourth save.
Upton had been 0-for-15 lifetime against Jimenez entering Saturday. He doubled in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
Then in the sixth, Enright singled with one out. With two down, Upton got hold of the first offering and hit a liner over the wall in left field for his 17th homer of the year.
The Rockies got consecutive singles from Stewart and Todd Helton in the second inning before Iannetta grounded into a fielder's choice to plate the game's first run. They failed add to their lead in the third when Troy Tulowitzki fanned, leaving a runner at third base.
Tulowitzki doubled with two down in the sixth, but Stewart fouled out.
Game Notes
Earlier in the day, the Diamondbacks agreed to terms with pitcher Mike Hampton on a minor league contract. The 37-year-old southpaw will report to Triple-A Reno to begin his comeback attempt to the big leagues. Hampton made 21 starts for Houston last season, going 7-10 with a 5.30 ERA. He has compiled a 148-115 record with a 4.07 earned run average over 409 games, 355 as a starter, during his 15-season career with the Mariners, Astros, Mets, Rockies and Braves...Carlos Gonzalez didn't start for Colorado due to a knee injury but drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.
<< Diop, Kamara help Wizards rout Revs
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birahim Diop scored two goals and assisted
on another as the Kansas City Wizards cruised to a 4-1 win over the New
England Revolution at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday.
Diop scored twice in
<< Bucs rally to down Chiefs; Freeman hurts thumb
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rudy Carpenter completed 8-of-11 passes for 79
yards and the game-winning touchdown to lead Tampa Bay to a 20-15 come-from-
behind win over Kansas City at Raymond James Stadium.
Buccaneers starting quarterback Jo
<< Ching's hat trick helps Dynamo snap 10-game skid
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Ching scored a hat trick and the Houston
Dynamo edged the Chicago Fire in a seven-goal thriller Saturday night, 4-3, at
Robertson Stadium to snap a 10-game winless skid in Major League Soccer.
Ching scor
<< Miyazato still in front at Safeway Classic
North Plains, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ai Miyazato posted a five-under 67 on
Saturday to stay atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Safeway
Classic.
Miyazato, the first-round leader of this 54-hole event, finished two round
Longtime Pistons PR director Dobek passes away >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Dobek, who served in the Detroit Pistons
organization for 29 years up until this past May, passed away at the age of
51.
The Detroit Free Press reported Dobek's death, but cited no reason for his
Folk, Jets edge Panthers >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Folk booted three field goals to lead
New York to a 9-3 win over Carolina at Bank of America Stadium.
Mark Sanchez completed 5-of-10 passes for 12 yards and Joe McKnight carried 11
times for 28 yards
Rams edge Browns on late FG >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Brown kicked four field goals,
including the game-winning 28-yard boot late in the fourth quarter, as St.
Louis grabbed a 19-17 preseason win over Cleveland.
A.J. Feeley led the Rams on a
Brewers edge Padres; Stairs sets HR mark >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Dickerson had two hits and two runs
batted in and Mike McClendon worked three scoreless innings to earn his first
major-league win as Milwaukee downed San Diego, 6-5, in the middle meeting of
a three
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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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