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07/23/2007 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun homered and drove in three runs, as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, in the conclusion of a three-game series at Miller Park.
Barry Bonds, sitting two home runs shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record at 753, got the day off. He now has a good chance to break the record at home, as the Giants play the next seven games at AT&T Park, starting with a four-game set with Aaron's Braves.
Corey Hart hit a two-run homer and J.J. Hardy knocked in two for Milwaukee, which avoided the sweep. Claudio Vargas (8-2) allowed three runs on five hits over six innings in a winning effort.
Opposing starter Barry Zito (7-10) yielded seven runs in 5 1/3 innings of work for the Giants, who have lost eight of 11. Omar Vizquel finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, and Pedro Feliz homered.
A pair of homers in the first staked the Brewers to a 4-0 lead. Rickie Weeks doubled to lead off the inning, and was driven in a batter later when Braun belted Zito's offering over the wall in left-center.
"We haven't played as well as we would like to the last couple of days," Braun said. "It was nice to get the momentum early, and to get a couple more runs and hang on to win."
The sequence repeated itself, as Prince Fielder followed with a double before Hart stepped in a batter later and hit his 14th homer of the year.
The Giants got on the board in the third thanks to a defensive miscue. Vizquel's hit was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Dave Roberts to score all the way from first with two outs.
Roberts and Vizquel added RBI singles in the fifth to slice the Brewers lead to 4-3.
Milwaukee, though, responded with three runs in the sixth to reclaim command. With the bases loaded and two out, Hardy singled to center to bring a pair home. Braun followed with a base hit that scored Craig Counsell for a 7-3 advantage.
"I tried to hold them down, and give the team a chance to win," Zito said. "A couple hits in the sixth was the difference."
Feliz's leadoff homer in the seventh made it a three-run game, and Aurilia's RBI groundout in the eighth brought the Giants within two. Francisco Cordero shut the door in the ninth, however, for his 31st save of the season.
Game Notes
With the long ball, Braun became the fastest Brewer in team history to reach 15 homers -- needing just 50 at-bats...Hart entered the game in a 1-for-19 skid...Attendance was 42,554.
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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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