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05/31/2008 - Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Beltran hit a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning, and Fernando Tatis delivered the winning run later in the frame as the New York Mets rallied for a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third of a four-game set at Shea Stadium.
Carlos Delgado went 2-for-4 for the Mets, who have won four of five. Jose Reyes was 1-for-3 to extend his hit streak to 16 games, while David Wright doubled and scored a run. Duaner Sanchez (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless eighth in relief of Mike Pelfrey, who allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings, striking out six.
Jonathan Broxton (2-2) allowed all three runs in one-third of an inning to take the loss for the Dodgers, who have dropped five of their last six. The defeat wasted a brilliant outing from Chad Billingsley, who held the Mets to four hits over seven shutout innings, striking out four and walking three.
Blake DeWitt went 2-for-4 and knocked in a run in the loss, while Juan Pierre and Russell Martin each singled and scored a run.
After being blanked through seven, Wright greeted Broxton with a double off the base of the wall in right to start the eighth, and Beltran immediately tied the game, launching an 0-1 slider over the wall in right. Delgado followed with a sharp single to right, and Damion Easley moved pinch-runner Nick Evans to second with a bunt. Brian Schneider was intentionally walked, then Tatis slapped a grounder back through the middle to plate Evans with the go-ahead run.
Broxton was lifted for Joe Beimel, who got pinch-hitter Luis Castillo to ground out before Reyes was given an intentional walk to load the bases. Beimel fanned Endy Chavez to end the inning, but the Mets had reversed the 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Billy Wagner needed just 15 pitches to strike out the side in the ninth, freezing DeWitt with a 3-2 fastball on the outside corner to notch his 11th save.
Pierre singled to center to start the game, and Matt Kemp followed by flipping a single to shallow right. Kemp tried to stretch the hit into a double, and while Chavez's throw easily beat him to the bag, Reyes let the ball go off his glove and between his legs, allowing Pierre to score and Kemp to end up on second. Pelfrey, however, avoided further damage and escaped with a 1-0 deficit.
A walk to Martin and singles by Andre Ethier and DeWitt allowed the Dodgers to push another run across in the fourth.
Billingsley's control began to falter in the bottom of the fourth, as he started the inning with walks to Wright and Beltran. Billingsley fell behind Delgado, 3-1, but got him to line out to center, then struck out Easley and retired Schneider on a lazy fly ball to center to escape unscathed.
The Mets managed just two hits against Billingsley until the seventh, when Schneider led off with a single to right. Tatis lined out to right, but pinch- hitter Raul Casanova grounded a single down the line in left to send Schneider to third. However, Billingsley retired Reyes and Chavez on popups to keep New York scoreless.
Game Notes
Reyes has now reached base in 31 consecutive games...The Mets won despite going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranding 11 men on base...The Dodgers were held to seven hits, all singles...On this day in 1977, current Dodgers manager Joe Torre was named manager of the Mets while still playing for the team...Hiroki Kuroda (2-4) will have a tough task in trying to salvage a series split for the Dodgers on Sunday, as he'll be opposed by Mets ace Johan Santana (6-3).
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Ken Griffey Jr.
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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