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05/13/2007 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chuck James allowed just one run in seven innings and Scott Thorman homered twice as the Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2, in the second of a three-game set at PNC Park.
James held the Pirates hitless until Jason Bay singled in the seventh. He walked three and struck out three for the Braves, who extended their win streak to a season-best five consecutive games.
Thorman finished with five RBI and Willie Harris went 4-for-5 for Atlanta.
The win was the 2,195th of Bobby Cox's career, which puts the Atlanta skipper ahead of Sparky Anderson for fourth place on baseball's all-time list.
Pittsburgh starter Tony Armas (0-3) only managed two-plus innings, surrendering five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two for the Pirates, who have lost six of their last eight.
Atlanta scored three runs in the second. Brian McCann walked and Jeff Francoeur singled before Thorman's one-out homer into the seats in center.
The Braves struck for two more in the second. After Harris doubled and Edgar Renteria singled, Andruw Jones reached on Freddy Sanchez's missed catch on a force attempt at second base. Harris scored on the play putting Atlanta ahead 4-0.
McCann followed with a single to center, scoring Renteria and chasing Armas. Marty McLeary entered and retired three straight batters to end the frame.
Kelly Johnson singled and scored on Harris' double to right, giving the Braves a 6-0 advantage in the fourth.
Atlanta extended its lead to 7-0 in the seventh on Francoeur's single to third scoring Jones with two outs.
The Pirates scored twice off Chad Paronto in the eighth. Jack Wilson doubled to left, scoring Jose Bautista with nobody out. Chris Duffy hit a sacrifice fly to left, plating Wilson with one out.
Thorman's two-out, two-run home run to right in the ninth put the Braves on top 9-2.
Game Notes
Cox has a 2,195-1,698 record in 26 seasons with Atlanta and Toronto. He got his 2,195th victory in his 3,883rd game. The leader is Connie Mack (3,731), who managed for a record 53 seasons...Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones was out of the starting lineup after injuring both wrists and his left quadriceps during a collision with the Pirates' Bautista Friday night...Renteria extended his hitting streak to 18 games...Pittsburgh finished with five hits...Attendance was 34,775.
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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 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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