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
08/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays face a familiar face this evening as they continue their seven-game road trip on the West Coast with a matchup against Scott Kazmir and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium.
Kazmir pitched the first five-plus years of his big league career with the Rays before being moved to the Angels in a waiver-wire deal last summer. Once one of the best young arms in baseball, Kazmir has had trouble finding his way of late and is just 8-10 with a 6.40 earned run average for the Angels this season.
The left-hander did not get a decision Wednesday in Boston, as the Red Sox hit him for four runs and eight hits in five innings of his team's 7-5 loss.
"I felt good, felt like I was attacking the zone, but I wasn't hitting my spots," Kazmir said afterward.
Kazmir lost his only other start against his former team, giving up three runs and seven hits in five innings back on May 11.
The Rays will counter with right-hander James Shields, who is 11-11 with a 4.82 ERA on the year. Shields picked up the win Wednesday against Texas, allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits in seven innings.
Oddly enough, Shields will be making his 144th career start with the Rays tonight, which will tie Kazmir's team record. He is also one win away from tying Kazmir's franchise record of 54.
Shields has faced the Angels eight times and is 4-3 with a 3.18 ERA against them.
Tampa remains one game back of the New York Yankees in the American League East after splitting its four-game series with the Oakland Athletics over the weekend.
On Sunday, Evan Longoria's two-run double supported Matt Garza's solid outing as Tampa Bay eked out a 3-2 win. Kelly Shoppach drove in the other run for the Rays, who won the final two tilts of the set and have taken four of their last six overall.
Garza (13-7) went 7 2/3 innings for the win, scattering four hits and one run with three walks, three strikeouts, and one key balk. Joaquin Benoit recorded the final out of the eighth and Rafael Soriano allowed a run in the ninth, but still notched his 37th save.
"With the race we're in now we have to win every one," said Garza. "Those guys over in New York don't lose many, so we have to keep winning and keep playing our game."
The Angels, meanwhile, are eight games back of the Texas Rangers in the AL West and did not do themselves any favors over the weekend, as they dropped two of three to the Minnesota Twins that culminated with a 4-0 loss in Sunday's rubber match at Target Field.
Hideki Matsui and Alberto Callaspo each had two hits for the Angels, who finished a six-game road trip with a 2-4 mark.
Jered Weaver (11-9) went six frames in the start, giving up four runs on six hits to suffer his second consecutive loss. He walked four batters and fanned three.
"We fell behind," Weaver said. "You have to nit-pick. I tried to battle as much as I can. [The Twins] got me for four [runs], and we lost."
The Rays took two of three from the Halos earlier in the year.
<< Division leaders collide as Rangers host Twins
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers return home to face the Minnesota Twins
in a potential playoff preview when the division leaders square off tonight in
the first of four straight games at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Texas, vying for i
<< Red Sox continue homestand with clash against Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox shoot for a third straight win this
evening, when they open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners at
Fenway Park.
After dropping the opener of their set with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday,
<< Rookie Nova gets call for Yankees' opener in Toronto
Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ivan Nova makes his first major league start this evening,
when the New York Yankees open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays
at Rogers Centre.
Nova, who pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the Yankees
<< Tigers hope to keep winning as Royals visit Motor City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers shoot for a fourth straight win when
they open a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals this evening at
Comerica Park.
Although the team's poor play since the All-Star break has taken it out of
p
NL playoff hopefuls square off in San Francisco >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants return home seeking to bounce
back from a tough road trip, while the Cincinnati Reds aim to continue their
success on a West Coast swing when the two playoff hopefuls open up a key
three-game series t
Braves turn to Hudson in opener with Rox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After two of the Atlanta Braves' young guns led the way in
a one-sided victory on Sunday, the team will turn to one of its established
stars in hopes of getting a three-game road series with the Colorado Rockies
off to a good
Myers tries to derail Phils' playoff hopes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An outstanding recent stretch has the Philadelphia
Phillies in position for a possible fourth consecutive trip to the postseason.
You can bet Brett Myers will be determined to stop that roll from continuing.
Myers will fa
Cards hope to right ship in Steel City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have fallen out of first place in
the National League's Central Division due to their inconsistent play as of
late. A few games against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates may help get them back
in a groove.
Tired of credit card deposit hassles? Then this is the place for you! MySportsbook boasts the best rate of acceptance for credit card deposits in the whole sports betting industry! They give you an instant 10% bonus for doing so as well, where as many other online bookies do not award a bonus for credit card transactioned deposits.
Welcome to MySportsbook.com the biggest and best sportsbook on the web! If you need a sportsbook accepting US credit cards for deposits you've come to the right place because they are the best.
Are you the type that needs lots of wager offerings? Then keep reading! MySportsbook is one of the best at offering everything gambling related that you can think of! Their sportsbook has all the current football and basketball odds as well as auto racing, horse racing, boxing and hard to find sports as well. Their casino boasts tons of different options as well such as blackjack, video poker, slots and virtual games such as hi-lo and virtual horse derby.
Reasons to Play There: A little tip for you all.. This is a sportsbook promotions that has a tremendous volume of players. They also offer an online poker room. Many of these sports bettors hop over to the poker room once the days games are over. Many of these sports bettors are just that and NOT good poker players. In summary, often times you'll be able to get into some lower limit games with some very ripe fish in the late evening hours resulting in some very easy pickin's and nice wins.
Speaking of poker, they offer satellite tournaments where you can win a free seat to the World Series of Poker! Be sure to check out their cycle, no hitter and slaughter rule refunds too! Open an account today by clicking here!
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