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05/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Injuries to a number of key regulars have rendered the Atlanta Braves' offense punchless over the last few games, a trend the slumping club would like to end in this afternoon's divisional showdown with the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies from Citizens Bank Park.
After failing to record a hit off Washington's Scott Olsen until the eighth inning of Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Nationals, the Braves' bats were stymied by Phillies' graybeard Jamie Moyer in last night's opener of this three-game series. The 47-year-old spun a dazzling two-hitter to become the oldest player in major league history to throw a shutout in Philadelphia's 7-0 triumph.
Moyer (4-2) struck out five without a walk and needed only 105 pitches to record the 10th shutout of his long and storied career. At 47 years and 170 days old, the veteran lefty broke Hall of Famer Phil Niekro's mark of being the eldest pitcher to blank the opposition over nine innings. Niekro was 46 years and 188 days of age when he threw his final shutout.
"Outstanding control and command on both sides of the plate," said Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel about Moyer. "He says if he can put the ball where he wants to do he can get them out, and that was a great example of it right there. [The Braves] hit a few balls hard but not very many, he was just that good."
Jayson Werth gave Moyer all the support he would need with a three-run homer in the third inning, with Raul Ibanez and Wilson Valdez each delivering two- RBI singles in the fifth to stake the Phils to a 7-0 advantage.
All seven runs came against Braves starter Derek Lowe (4-3), who was tagged for 11 hits in a five-inning stint.
Atlanta has now lost 10 of its last 11 on the road and fell to 4-13 as the visitor this season, tied with Baltimore for the worst record in the majors.
The Braves did play Friday's test without rookie sensation Jason Heyward (strained groin) and All-Star catcher Brian McCann (eye problems) and were forced to place shortstop Yunel Escobar on the disabled list with a groin injury earlier in the week. McCann is expected to return to the lineup for this afternoon's contest, while Heyward, the team's leader with eight homers and 26 RBI, is considered day-to-day.
Atlanta has also had to deal with injuries on the pitching end, with valued starter Jair Jurrjens recently sent to the 15-day DL after injuring his hamstring in an April 29 outing at St. Louis. As a result, Kris Medlen will make his initial start of the season this afternoon in Jurrjens' place.
Medlen has pitched exclusively in middle relief for the Braves this year and compiled a 1-1 record with a 2.55 earned run average in 12 appearances out of the pen. The sophomore right-hander struggled when used as a starter as a rookie last year, going 1-2 with a poor 6.38 ERA in four starts and walking 11 batters in only 18 1/3 innings of work.
This will be Medlen's first-ever start against the Phillies, but he's faced them twice already in relief this season and seven times over the past two years. The 24-year-old has recorded a 6.75 ERA lifetime versus Philadelphia and allowed two runs in 2 1/3 innings during his two previous matchups in this series in 2010.
Joe Blanton makes his second start of the year for Philadelphia this afternoon, having spent the season's first month on the disabled list with a strained left oblique. The stocky right-hander pitched well for the most part in Monday's debut, despite being saddled with a loss against St. Louis.
Blanton held the Cardinals to one run over the first six innings but faltered in the seventh, when he was charged with three more runs allowed and failed to finish out the frame. For the game, the 29-year-old gave up 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings and struck out four while walking one.
The University of Kentucky product is no stranger to the Braves, having made five starts against Atlanta a year ago. Blanton was 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA in those tests, with the lone win coming at Citizens Bank Park on August 30 by virtue of yielding just one run and three hits over seven innings.
Philadelphia puts a streak of four straight wins on the line today and has gone 6-2 thus far on a 10-game homestand. The two-time defending NL champs will be without their dugout leader this afternoon, however, as Manuel will miss the game due to a personal matter. He's expected to be back behind the bench for Sunday's finale.
Atlanta lost two of three to the Phillies at Turner Field last month, but did win five of the nine 2009 encounters between the teams held in Philadelphia.
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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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