09/04/2008 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Baseball suspended Philadelphia Phillies third base coach Steve Smith for two games and fined him an undisclosed amount on Thursday.
Smith was disciplined for his inappropriate actions directed at umpires Chris Guccione and Bill Welke following the conclusion of the top of the seventh inning of Philadelphia's game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on August 29th.
Umpires called Ryan Howard out on a close play at first in the seventh inning of an eventual 3-2 Cubs win.
Smith is scheduled to begin serving his suspension for the first two games of Philadelphia's three-game series against the Mets in New York, set for Friday and Saturday.
<< Thrashers sign first-round pick
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers signed defenseman Zach
Bogosian to a multi-year contract on Thursday.
Bogosian was the third overall pick in the 2008 draft.
The 18-year-old led the Peterborough Petes with 11 goals
<< Teixeira and Halos crush Tigers
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira and Juan Rivera each drove in two
runs, as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pounded the Detroit Tigers, 7-1, in
the rubber match of a three-game set from Comerica Park.
Gary Matthews Jr. finish
<< Kip Deville one to catch in Woodbine Mile
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kip Deville, winner of the 2007 Breeders' Cup
Mile, is the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Sunday's $1 million Woodbine Mile.
The race is one of the "Win and You're In" events that guarantees a spot for
the wi
<< Angels' Weaver has start pushed back
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver had
his start on Friday pushed back to Monday after the right-hander sustained
cuts on the middle and ring fingers of his pitching hand.
The injury occurred whe
Giants sign Burress to extension >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York and wide receiver Plaxico
Burress agreed on a two-year contract extension Thursday, hours before the
Giants begin defense of their title against the Washington Redskins.
Burress, who h
Isbister signs with Ottawa >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators signed left wing Brad
Isbister to a one-year, two-way contract on Thursday.
Isbister, who will be joining his fifth different team in as many seasons,
spent last season with Vancou
Federer reaches 18th straight Grand Slam semi >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning four-time champion Roger
Federer was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Thursday at the U.S. Open. The
Swiss superstar will now play in his record 18th straight major semifinal.
The second-see
Buckeyes' Wells out against Ohio >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells
will not play when the third-ranked Buckeyes battle Ohio on Saturday.
"Beanie won't go this week," Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel said Thursday.
I feel good a
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.
Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.
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