Rays ride hot streak into Arlington
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays take their hot streak into the Lone Star State, where the defending American League champions will start up an intriguing three-game series with the Texas Rangers this evening.
With wins in 15 of their last 20 games, the Rays have climbed right back into contention in the AL East and league Wild Card races. Tampa Bay enters tonight's play trailing first-place Boston by five games in the division standings, while sitting two back of the New York Yankees for the Wild Card.
The Rays had ripped off a season-high seven straight wins before being shut down by Toronto's Ricky Romero on Wednesday, with the Blue Jays' rookie yielding just four hits over eight shutout innings to lead his team to a 5-0 victory.
Romero got more than enough support in the form of solo homers from Scott Rolen, Rod Barajas and Adam Lind, with each of the blasts coming off Rays starter James Shields (6-6). The right-hander lasted 7 1/3 innings and was reached for five runs (4 earned) on seven hits while striking out eight batters.
"I feel terrible when [Shields is] out there just battling his butt off and we can't give him enough runs to win," said second baseman Ben Zobrist, who collected two of the Rays' four hits. "We know it's going to come around."
The Rangers are embroiled in a tight race of their own at the moment, with the club currently one game behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for first place in the AL West. Texas closed the gap on its rival by winning the final two tests of a recent three-game series at Rangers Ballpark, including a wild 9-7 triumph in Wednesday's finale.
After squandering a three-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Rangers prevailed when Hank Blalock socked a game-winning two-run homer with two outs in their half of the frame.
Blalock also had a solo homer in the fourth inning and finished 3-for-5 on the night. Michael Young also collected three hits for Texas, while Chris Davis drove in a pair of runs in the win.
The walkoff blast made a winner out of Frank Francisco (2-1), despite the closer surrendering a game-tying three-run homer to Juan Rivera in the top of the ninth. Rangers starter Kevin Millwood worked the first 6 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits.
"When a guy doesn't have his stuff that night, it's up to the offense to pick him up," Blalock said. "Michael (Young) got on base for us and I was fortunate enough to drive him in."
Texas has scored nine runs or more in each of its last four wins and will take its swings tonight against the recently-activated Scott Kazmir. The Tampa hurler returned from a five-week stint on the disabled list due to a strained right quadriceps and pitched well despite not receiving a decision.
Kazmir held Florida to two runs on four hits over five innings and exhibited good control, throwing 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes.
The hard-throwing lefty had struggled badly with command prior to being put on the DL. Kazmir walked 29 batters in 45 2/3 innings over his first nine starts of the year and brought an unwanted 7.69 earned run average into Friday's appearance.
The native Texan has had little trouble when facing the Rangers in the past, however. In seven career starts against tonight's opponent, Kazmir is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA and has amassed 56 strikeouts in a combined 43 innings.
The Rangers counter with Tommy Hunter, who goes in search of his first big- league victory as he makes his sixth start in the majors.
Hunter has pitched twice for Texas this season, with the most recent coming in Sunday's 2-0 home loss to San Diego. The young right-hander had a solid performance in a losing cause, giving up just a pair of runs on seven hits and walking none in 6 1/3 innings.
The University of Alabama product, who will be celebrating his 23rd birthday today, also made an emergency start in a May 29 doubleheader against Oakland and allowed three runs in a 5 1/3-inning no-decision.
Hunter is taking the place of Matt Harrison, sent to the disabled list last week with biceps inflammation, in the Texas rotation.
Tonight's clash is the first meeting of the season between these teams. The Rays won six of nine matchups with Texas a year ago, including four of six tilts held in Arlington.
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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.
Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back
With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."
Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
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