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09/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If a return home isn't enough to fix the Cincinnati Reds, then perhaps a visit from the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates will do the trick. Tonight, the Reds will try to stop a five-game losing streak when they begin a three-game set with the Pirates at Great American Ball Park.
Cincinnati has won its last four and eight of its last nine in the Queen City and has also dominated the Pirates there, taking 11 of the last 14 meetings. The Pirates have also dropped 15 of 16 away from home.
However, Cincinnati returns home after a miserable road trip that saw it go just 1-6 with losses in the final five games, including a 6-5 defeat to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. Drew Stubbs hit a two-run home run while Ramon Hernandez went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Reds, who lost their 10th straight game in Colorado and fell to the Rockies for the 19th time in their last 22 tries.
"I don't think we've won a game here in two years," said Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker. "It's just a strange string of events that have happened here to make things turn against us."
The Reds actually led 5-0 on Thursday only to see the Rockies score six unanswered runs with the deciding tally coming on a straight steal of home by pinch-runner Chris Nelson.
Travis Wood was charged with three runs on five hits with a pair of walks and six strikeouts over five innings. Nick Masset (3-4) was on the hill at the time of the steal and was handed the loss.
"It's one of those things you think will never happen, and it happened," said Masset. "It's embarrassing. It's something that shouldn't have happened. It's something I take complete fault for."
Thanks to the slide, Cincinnati has seen its lead over St. Louis in the NL Central fall to five games. Another loss tonight would give the Reds their first six-game losing streak since an eight-game skid July 28-Aug. 4, 2009.
Hoping to get the Reds back on track tonight will be right-hander Homer Bailey, who is a perfect 5-0 against the Pirates with a 1.57 earned run average in five starts. Bailey tossed a four-hit shutout the last time he faced them back on May 12.
Bailey, though, is winless in his last three starts after falling in St. Louis on Sunday, as he was hit for four runs and five hits in six innings. He is 3-3 on the year and has allowed 13 runs in his last three starts spanning 17 1/3 innings to raise his ERA to 5.00.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, will counter with left-hander Paul Maholm, who has lost his last five decisions. Maholm was charged with the loss on Saturday against Washington, which battered him for seven runs and nine hits in just 4 1/3 innings.
Maholm, who is 6-4 lifetime versus the Reds, has lost seven of his last eight decisions and is a miserable 7-14 on the year with a 5.43 ERA.
Pittsburgh enters tonight's tilt on a bit of a high note after taking two of three from the playoff-hopeful Atlanta Braves. However, the Bucs are still just 47-92, 31 1/2 games back of the Reds in the division.
Cincinnati has won eight of its 15 meetings with the Pirates this season.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-hander Dave Bush can push Milwaukee's win streak to
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at Miller Park.
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White Sox return home to open set with Royals >>
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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.
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sports betting
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