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Abreu homers twice in Angels' win over O's

Baseball Betting Lines

07/03/2009 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu hit a pair of homers, accounting for four runs batted in, and John Lackey threw eight strong innings, as the Angels beat Baltimore, 5-2, in the opener of a four-game series.

Chone Figgins had three hits and drove in the other run for Los Angeles, which began a 10-game homestand on the right foot, snapping a two-game skid while winning for the seventh time in nine contests.

Lackey (3-3) had seven strikeouts while giving up four hits and two runs, moving to 7-3 lifetime against the Orioles. Brian Fuentes tossed the ninth inning for his major league-leading 23rd save.

"I established the fastball pretty good tonight," said Lackey. "I mixed my pitches well and located my fastball."

Jeremy Guthrie (6-8) surrendered nine hits and five runs over seven innings to have a personal two-game win streak broken.

Luke Scott homered for the Orioles, who lost for the fourth time in five games.

Abreu homered to right field leading off the fourth inning, but the Orioles tied it in the next inning, when Matt Wieters singled in Nolan Reimold with one out. Baltimore, though, wasted a chance with runners at the corners, as Robert Andino and Brian Roberts each struck out.

Los Angeles exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take command. Maicer Izturis led off with a triple, and Mike Napoli walked. One out later, Figgins blooped an RBI single to left-center. Abreu then jumped all over an 0-2 offering for his sixth homer of the year, a shot barely over the wall in right field.

"My game is a line-drive hitter," said Abreu. "I try not to force it. When the homers come, they're welcome."

Scott homered to center with one out in the seventh, but Aubrey Huff's single in the ninth represented Baltimore's only hit over the final two innings.

"There wasn't much to hit," said Scott. "I actually hit a good pitch. I got lucky, but he (Lackey) mixed up his pitches and he was on his game."

Game Notes

It was Abreu's 14th career multi-homer game and first this season...The Angels are 8-3 in their last 11 home games and have won 14 of 19 overall...Abreu upped his total to 48 RBI this season... The O's are just 4-13 in Anaheim since the start of the 2006 campaign.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

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.

How to Read Point Spreads

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:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • 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.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    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.