Walker, Pirates shut down stumbling Braves
Baseball Betting Lines
09/06/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Neil Walker's two-run homer in the sixth inning proved to be the difference, as the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, in the opener of a three-game set at PNC Park.
Jose Tabata added a single, RBI and scored a run for Pittsburgh, which had dropped seven of nine entering the contest.
Brian Burres (3-3), starting for Jeff Karstens, who was unable to go due to right shoulder soreness, gave his club a solid six-inning outing. The lefty yielded one run on five hits, struck out three and did not walk a batter in making his first start since May 29. Joel Hanrahan worked a scoreless ninth to record his fourth save of the season.
Derrek Lee went 2-for-3 with a run scored on his 35th birthday, while David Ross supplied the only offense with a sacrifice fly for the Braves, who have lost four of five, but still sit atop the National League East by one game over Philadelphia. The Phillies dropped the opener of a day/night doubleheader to Florida on Monday.
Tommy Hanson (9-11) suffered the loss after allowing three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and a pair of walks in six innings. The right-hander struck out four.
Tabata's RBI groundout in the first scored Andrew McCutchen, who led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on an error by catcher Ross, giving the Pirates an early lead.
The Braves loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and pulled even on Ross' sac fly. Burres worked out of further damage by retiring the next two hitters.
Starting pitching limited the offensive chances, but Lee and Matt Diaz reached on back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth. After a brief mound visit by Pirates manager John Russell, Burres stayed in and got Alex Gonzalez to bounce into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
In the home sixth, Tabata led off with a single and scored when Walker hammered a fastball over the fence in straightaway center to put the Pirates up 3-1. It gave Walker a 13-game hitting streak.
Chris Resop took over for Burress in the seventh and proceeded to load the bases with two outs on a single and two walks, but Martin Prado grounded out weakly to third to end the threat.
The Braves put runners on second and third with two outs in the eighth off Evan Meek, but again came up empty when Nate McLouth grounded out to first.
Hanrahan came on for the top of the ninth and gave up a two-out single to Jason Heyward before setting down Prado on a fly ball to right that ended the game.
Game Notes
Despite the loss, Atlanta has still won eight of the last 12 overall meetings between the teams...The Braves went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10, while Pittsburgh left only three men on base.
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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 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.
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.