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
07/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After winning 10 of his first 15 starts of the season, New York Mets right-hander Mike Pelfrey has fallen on hard times. Pelfrey will try to bounce back when he takes the mound Monday in the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks from Chase Field.
Pelfrey was 10-2 with a 2.71 earned run average after a win over the Minnesota Twins on June 25, but is just 0-2 with a less desirable 10.13 ERA over his past three starts. He has dropped back-to-back appearances and previously took the mound in last Saturday's 4-0 setback versus Atlanta, allowing all four runs and 12 hits in only four innings. He hasn't been able to pitch past the fifth inning in each of his previous three outings.
The right-hander, who is 4-2 on the road this season and was slated to pitch Saturday before neck stiffness pushed his start back, will face Arizona for the sixth time in his career. He is 0-4 with a 5.22 ERA over the first five appearances in this series, and went 0-2 in two starts a year ago.
New York hopes Pelfrey will be at full strength when it resume an 11-game road trip in the desert. The Mets salvaged the finale of a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend with Sunday's 4-3 victory in 10 innings at AT&T Park. Ike Davis put the visitors ahead for good with an RBI double in the 10th inning that plated Jason Bay, who reached on a single.
Davis had three hits and two RBI, while Bay also ended with a trio of hits for the Mets, who won for just the second time in eight games. David Wright homered for the 15th time in a winning effort and starter Johan Santana fired eight innings of one-run ball for the no-decision. Closer Francisco Rodriguez blew the save in the ninth, but came back for the win in the 10th.
"This locker room would have been a lot different right now [if we had lost]," right fielder Jeff Francoeur said on the team's website.
The Mets hope to carry the momentum over into this series with Arizona and will visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games afterwards. In injury news for the Mets, second baseman Luis Castillo (heel/foot) is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list Monday, while shortstop Jose Reyes (oblique) is listed as probable. Wright is also probable with a balky knee.
Arizona has dropped four in a row and was swept in three games by the NL West- leading San Diego Padres over the weekend. In Sunday's 6-4 setback in the series finale, Edwin Jackson was dealt the loss for allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings with seven K's and four walks.
Kelly Johnson and Justin Upton both homered and finished with two RBI for the Diamondbacks, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games. Upton finished with a team-best three hits and is riding a modest five-game hitting streak. He has hit safely in 20 of his last 28 contests, including 11 multi-hit games.
"We battled to the end and that's all you can ask for," said Upton, who had an RBI double in the ninth. "Heath Bell is an All-Star for a reason."
Bell then got D'Backs catcher Miguel Montero to ground out to end the game.
The Diamondbacks will also host NL West-rival San Francisco for four games after this set with New York.
Ian Kennedy has put together back-to-back wins just once this season and hopes to do it again when he toes the rubber Monday for the D'Backs. Kennedy was 0-5 with a 5.29 earned run average in eight starts before ending the slide in a 5-4 win over Florida on July 10. He allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two batters to improve to 4-7 in 18 starts.
The right-hander, who is 2-2 in eight home starts this season, has never faced the Mets in his career.
New York and Arizona are meeting for the first time since the Diamondbacks won five of seven meetings a year ago.
<< Jimenez goes for win No. 16 in south Florida
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Rockies and Marlins have struggled on offense in
the second half. Given Tuesday's pitching matchup, neither team is likely to
break out at the plate on Monday night.
National League All-Star starter Ubaldo Ji
<< Phillies aiming to get on track against first-place Cardinals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies have handled the St. Louis
Cardinals pretty conveniently the past few years. That may change when the
struggling Phils pay a visit to Busch Stadium Monday for the first of four
consecutive matchups w
<< Cubs hope to stay hot versus Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The confidence level in the Windy City has to be high after
how easily the Chicago Cubs handled the two-time defending National League
champion Philadelphia Phillies this weekend at Wrigley Field.
Chicago's chances of keep
<< Oosthuizen soars to 15th in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Louis Oosthuizen parlayed his first major
championship victory into a huge jump in the world rankings.
Oosthuizen cruised to a seven-stroke win at the British Open this past weekend
and jumped 39 places f
Mitchell and Krystkowiak join Avery Johnson in Jersey >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NBA head coaches Sam Mitchell
and Larry Krystkowiak have been named assistants for Avery Johnson with the
New Jersey Nets.
John Loyer, Popeye Jones and Tom Barrise were also named to Johnso
Breakers claim third successive win >>
Cambridge, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Breakers earned their third
straight win on Sunday as they downed the Washington Freedom, 2-1, at Harvard
Stadium.
The Freedom took the lead just two minutes into the game through N
Four finalists return to Buck Buchanan Award Watch List >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for the 2010 Buck Buchanan Award,
sponsored by Fathead.com, kicked off Monday with The Sportsbook Betting Lines's
announcement that four finalists from last season are part of a stellar 20-
player Watch List f
Valero returns to Spain with Villarreal >>
Villarreal, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich Albion have cut their
losses on Borja Valero after allowing the midfielder to return to Spain with
Villarreal.
Valero, 25, joined the Baggies from Mallorca for a club record $7 mill
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