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07/05/2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Carpenter returned to form with seven strong innings, and Colby Rasmus homered for the second day in a row, as the Cardinals took the finale of this three-game set, 10-1, over the Reds.
Carpenter (6-3) scattered five hits and a run with one walk and five strikeouts while also picking up an RBI single in the win. The former Cy Young Award winner was tagged for six runs on 11 hits in his last start versus San Francisco -- an outing that saw his earned run average climb more than 60 points. He had allowed three runs or less in each of his 10 previous starts this season.
Skip Schumaker was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and Rasmus hit a two-run homer and doubled for St. Louis, which had a three-game win streak broken on Saturday. Joe Thurston added a pair of RBI.
Yadier Molina, named to his first All-Star Game earlier Sunday, had two hits and two RBI. Molina will start behind the plate while teammate Albert Pujols will make his eighth All-Star appearance and sixth start after garnering 5,397,374 votes, the second-most in history behind Ken Griffey, Jr., who had 6,079,688 votes in 1994.
Jay Bruce accounted for the offense with an RBI triple for the Reds, who had won three of the last four entering play. Bronson Arroyo (8-8) labored through five-plus innings, allowing 11 hits and eight runs, five of those earned. Arroyo has dropped five of his last six decisions.
Rasmus started things off in familiar fashion, drilling a two-run homer to right in the first -- one day after clubbing a solo shot in the first frame of a 5-2 loss.
This one would be decided quickly, though, as Molina and Carpenter each had an RBI single in the fourth to make it 4-0.
A four-run fifth made it an 8-0 game.
Schumaker singled, Rasmus doubled and Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases, still with nobody out. A throwing error by Edwin Encarnacion then plated a pair, and Rick Ankiel and Thurston went on to plate two more -- both via the sacrifice fly.
Bruce gave the Reds their lone bright spot with a triple to left in the seventh that scored Joey Votto, but the Cardinals scored twice in the ninth off Carlos Fisher on Molina's groundout and Thurston's RBI single to center.
Game Notes
St. Louis evened the season series at five games apiece...Carpenter twirled a brilliant nine innings against Cincinnati on June 4 in St. Louis, giving up just three hits and a run in a 3-1 victory. He's now 5-3 against Cincinnati in 11 starts...Jerry Hairston, Jr. had two of Cincinnati's six hits...The Reds' lone All-Star representative is closer Francisco Cordero.
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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 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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