Big Unit defeats Carpenter, Giants top Cards
Baseball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edgar Renteria went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Randy Johnson won the battle of former Cy Young Award winners, as the Giants pulled out a 6-3 victory over Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals in the second test of a four-game set.
Johnson (8-5) gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to win for the fifth time in his last six decisions. Bengie Molina had two hits and two RBI, and Pablo Sandoval finished 2-for-4 with a run knocked in and two runs scored for San Francisco, which has won five of seven.
Carpenter (5-3), previously 3-0 at home this year, was roughed up for six runs on 11 hits in just five frames for St. Louis, which has dropped six of seven.
As has been the case for much of the season, Albert Pujols provided the Cardinals' offense with two homers and three RBI, finishing the month of June with an eye-popping 14 home runs and 35 RBI.
The Giants got to Carpenter early on with three consecutive one-out singles in the first, the latter from Bengie Molina plating Randy Winn. Nate Schierholtz struck out with runners on the corners, and Renteria singled to left to bring in Sandoval for a quick 2-0 lead.
Sandoval was thrown out at home on a weak grounder to first by Schierholtz in the third, and Pujols hammered a one-out blast that flew by Big Mac Land to make it a 2-1 game in the fourth.
San Fran answered with four runs of its own in the fifth. Aaron Rowand singled, moved to third on Winn's double and scored on a Sandoval base hit to right. Bengie Molina followed with a sacrifice fly, and Schierholtz grounded out before run-scoring hits from Renteria and Travis Ishikawa.
Pujols continued to keep the hosts close by following Chris Duncan's pinch-hit walk in the sixth with his 30th home run of the year, the seventh time the reigning NL MVP has gone deep twice in the same game this season.
Johnson was pulled later in the inning after giving up a one-out triple to Ryan Ludwick and walk to Yadier Molina. Jeremy Affeldt entered and walked Rick Ankiel, though the reliever induced an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Tyler Greene to stem the threat.
Brian Wilson entered in the eighth with two on and two out and got pinch- hitter Skip Schumaker to ground out. In the ninth, the Giants closer worked around a one-out single by Colby Rasmus for his 21st save of the year.
Game Notes
Both teams entered the game with 41 wins...Despite Pujols' prowess during the month, St. Louis finished June with a 12-17 record....Lifetime against the Cardinals, Johnson is 7-7 in 15 starts... Carpenter was 3-0 in five lifetime starts against San Francisco coming in...The Giants have taken six of the past seven meetings in this series...St. Louis was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregor Blanco scored the winning run in the 10th inning as part of a three-hit night, and Martin Prado drove him in as part of a four-RBI evening, as Atlanta used the big bats from two unlikely sources
<< Haren pitches, hits D-Backs past Reds
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Haren threw seven innings of one-run
ball and added a double and solo home run at the plate to help snap the
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Haren (7-
<< Pirates blank Cubs, complete rare winning mark in June
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddy Sanchez doubled and knocked in two
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Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames' gamble paid dividends on
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Over the wee
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Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet
Okur both announced they will remain with the Utah Jazz for the 2009-10
campaign.
Boozer announced he will exercise his player option and remain with the
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets threw the baseball all around the diamond during Milwaukee's four-run fourth frame, and the Brewers beat Johan Santana in a 6-3 victory at Miller Park. Ryan Braun was right in the m
White Sox wash away Lee, Tribe in rain-shortened tilt >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gordon Beckham went 3-for-4 with a solo
homer, two runs batted in, and two runs scored as the Chicago White Sox
pounded the Cleveland Indians, 11-4, in a rain-shortened game called in the
top of
Marlins time comeback over Nationals perfectly >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer and knocked in
four, as the Florida Marlins scored three times in the seventh to edge the
Washington Nationals, 7-5, in a rain-shortened game at Land Shark Stadium in
the mid
Cabrera's hit lifts Yankees over Mariners >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera drove in three runs, including the
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their sixth straight win, 8-5 over Seattle.
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Rangers use longball to halt Angels' win streak at six >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlon Byrd smacked a two-run and three-run
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at Rang
What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.