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04/23/2009 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Richmond fanned eight over six strong innings, as Toronto beat Texas, 5-2, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Alex Rios belted a two-run homer in the fifth inning, while Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay added solo shots in the second frame for Toronto, which has won four of its last five games.
The 29-year-old Richmond (2-0), a native of Vancouver and just the sixth Canadian pitcher to ever appear in a Blue Jays uniform, gave up six hits and two runs, both on homers, and walked a pair of batters.
Kevin Millwood (1-2) was charged with five hits and four runs over seven innings.
Josh Hamilton and Chris Davis homered for the Rangers, who are 3-9 since starting the season with three consecutive victories.
Wells homered to left-center on the first pitch of the bottom of the second. With two outs, Overbay homered to center.
Hamilton homered with one out in the fourth, and the Rangers put runners at the corners after Hank Blalock doubled and Nelson Cruz singled. Richmond settled down and fanned Davis. Cruz stole second and David Murphy walked to load the bases, but Taylor Teagarden struck out to end the inning.
Aaron Hill doubled with two outs in the fifth and Rios followed with a homer to left, making it 4-1.
Davis went deep to right-center the next inning, but after walking Murphy, Richmond struck out Teagarden.
Brandon League pitched a perfect seventh inning for Toronto, while Jesse Carlson worked around a lead-off single to Hamilton and struck out the ensuing two batters before Shawn Camp fanned pinch-hitter Andruw Jones to end the inning.
Scott Rolen singled in Adam Lind in the Toronto eighth, and Scott Downs pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the year.
Game Notes
Earlier Thursday, the Blue Jays placed rookie pitcher Ricky Romero on the 15- day disabled list because of a strained right oblique muscle...The Rangers start a four-game series at Baltimore Friday, while the Blue Jays play at Chicago against the White Sox this weekend in a three-game set.
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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.
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