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07/23/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder B.J. Upton and New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano were selected as the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending July 22.
Upton batted .414 with a double, two home runs and eight RBI over the week, with a .759 slugging percentage, a .514 on-base percentage, and scored eight runs with 22 total bases. He went 3-for-4 and scored twice against the Angels on July 17th. On July 20th against the Yankees, Upton hit two homers with three RBI and three runs scored. The following day, in the first tilt of a doubleheader against New York, he ended 3-for-4 with a homer.
Cano hit .500 with a double, triple, two homers and nine RBI on the week. He had a .765 slugging percentage and a .528 on-base percentage, scoring eight runs with 26 total bases. Against the Blue Jays on July 16th, he went 2-for-4 with a homer. Cano went 11-for-18 with a homer and six RBI over a four-game series against Tampa Bay.
Others nominees were Cleveland's Ryan Garko and two of Cano's Yankee teammates, outfielder Hideki Matsui and third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Boston's Kason Gabbard and Toronto's Roy Halladay were the pitchers considered.
<< Harrington up to sixth in world with British victory
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With his playoff win at the British Open
on Sunday, Padraig Harrington climbed four places to No. 6 in the latest World
Golf Rankings.
Harrington matched his career-best ranking thanks to his fi
<< WAC: Boise State or Hawaii?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Not only did the Broncos sweep their
eight conference games last season, they finished the season undefeated after
"hook and laddering" Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State ended the
campaig
<< Pistons sign McDyess to extension
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Pistons signed forward
Antonio McDyess to a contract extension Monday. Per team policy, financial
terms were not disclosed.
The 32-year old McDyess appeared in 82 games last se
<< United's Scholes to miss a month with knee injury
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United midfielder Paul
Scholes is expected to be out of action for the next month after suffering a
knee injury during United's Asia tour.
Scholes was sent home from the pre-season to
Steelers give Polamalu four-year extension >>
Latrobe, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers signed standout
safety Troy Polamalu to a four-year contract extension on Monday.
The terms of the deal, which runs through 2011, were not disclosed.
The 5-10, 207-pound Polam
Reds activate Harang from bereavement list >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds activated starting
pitcher Aaron Harang from the bereavement list on Monday and he will start the
Reds' game against Milwaukee.
Harang had been out since last Thursday due to the de
Horna wins Kitzbuhel opener >>
Kitzbuhel, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peruvian Luis Horna was among Monday's
first-round winners at the $1.085 million Austrian Open.
Horna handled French qualifier Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-3 on the red clay at
Casino Stadion.
A popu
This Week in Golf - July 25th through July 29th >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - SENIOR BRITISH OPEN -
SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, Muirfield Golf Club, Gullane, East Lothian,
Scotland - The Senior circuit heads across the pond this week for the Senior
British Open as the golf wor
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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