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07/03/2009 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez each homered as the New York Yankees doubled up Toronto, 4-2, in the opener of a four-game set.
Mark Teixeira added a hit and an RBI for the Yankees, who have won eight of their last nine.
A.J. Burnett (7-4), facing his former club for the second time in 2009, went seven innings for the win, scattering six hits and two runs, fanning seven with a pair of walks.
Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs to earn his 21st save.
Vernon Wells collected two hits including a homer and Alex Rios drove in the other run for the Blue Jays, who have dropped six of eight.
Brian Tallet (5-6) lasted six innings in the loss, charged with six hits and three runs -- two earned -- with four walks and three strikeouts.
New York manufactured a pair of runs in the fifth to take the lead for good. Walks to Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter plus Johnny Damon's bunt single quickly loaded the bases, then Teixeira drew a walk for the go-ahead run. Rodriguez grounded into fielder's choice at home, then a passed ball scored Damon. Cano grounded into another fielder's choice at home, then Nick Swisher looked at a third strike to keep it 3-1.
Wells' blast with two down in the sixth cut Toronto's deficit to 3-2, but Rodriguez dumped a solo shot to right in the eighth off Jeremy Accardo to give New York an insurance run.
Phil Coke and Phil Hughes combined for a scoreless eighth and Rivera retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the victory.
Cano's leadoff homer in the second gave the Yanks an early lead, but the Jays knotted the score in the fourth as Lyle Overbay doubled and later scored on a Rios single.
Game Notes
The Yanks have won three of four meetings thus far in 2009...Jays third baseman Scott Rolen extended to his hit streak to 20 games in the eighth with a single...Burnett took the loss on May 12 at Toronto, allowing seven hits and five runs over 7 2/3 innings...Jeter finished with two hits and Marco Scutaro picked up a pair of hits for the Jays.
<< Reds activate 3B Encarnacion from DL
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati third baseman Edwin Encarnacion
was activated from the 60-day disabled list prior to Friday's game against the
St. Louis Cardinals.
Encarnacion had been on the DL since late April due to a chip
<< New York hopes to snap losing skid at Dallas
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York ends a tough seven-match streak
Saturday night at FC Dallas, hoping to snap a nine-game winless skid and a road
losing stretch that dates back to last season.
New York (2-12-4) contests its six
<< Sturridge secures Chelsea switch
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Highly-rated Manchester City striker Daniel
Sturridge has completed his transfer to FA Cup winners Chelsea.
The 19-year-old, who has penned a four-year contract at Stamford Bridge, will
join up the rest
<< Owen agrees to join United
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Owen is determined to repay the
faith Sir Alex Ferguson has shown in him after penning a two-year contract
with Manchester United.
The 29-year-old moves to Old Trafford on a free transfer
Daytona qualifying rained out, Stewart awarded pole >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain washed out Friday's qualifying
session for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
A thundershower moved over the 2.5-mile track shortly before the start of
qualifying. Track
Bases-loaded walk sends Cubs over Brewers in 10 innings >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jake Fox drew a bases loaded walk, scoring
Ryan Theriot in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the Chicago Cubs edged the
Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1, in the second of a four-game set at Wrigley Field.
Theriot
Woods shoots 66 to lead AT&T National >>
Bethesda, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods nourished his momentum with a
handful of scrambling par saves, shooting a four-under 66 on Friday to take
the second-round lead at the AT&T National.
Woods finished two trips around Con
Ramirez apologizes on night of return to Dodgers >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Manny
Ramirez spoke to the media Friday, prior to making his scheduled return to the
majors following his 50-game suspension.
Ramirez is expected to be in the starting
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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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