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09/08/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez finished 3-for-4 and hit his major-league leading 49th home run of the season as New York edged Kansas City, 3-2, in the first of three between the clubs at Kauffman Stadium.
The Rodriguez homer, a lead-off shot in the second, was the 513th of his career, passing both Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews for sole possession of 17th place on the all-time list.
Kyle Farnsworth (2-1) earned the win by pitching a scoreless inning. Ian Kennedy, in his second major-league start, allowed seven hits and two runs with three walks and a pair of strikeouts over five innings.
Jorge Posada also homered for the Yankees, who have won three straight games. Bobby Abreu added an RBI double.
Neal Musser (0-1) took the loss, charged with the Yanks' go-ahead run in two- thirds of an inning in relief. Royals starter Gil Meche gave up two runs and five hits over six innings in the no-decision.
Alex Gordon went 2-for-4 and scored a run for the Royals, who have lost three in a row. Mark Grudzielanek and Jason Smith drove in a run each in the loss.
In the seventh facing Musser, Derek Jeter singled with two down and scored on a double to center by Abreu to give New York a 3-2 advantage. Following walks to Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, Joel Peralta was called upon to face Posada, who was robbed of extra-bases on a great catch by Royals center fielder David DeJesus.
New York loaded the bases in the eighth on singles by Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon and a Jeter hit-by-pitch, but David Riske kept the game within reach when he fanned Abreu swinging.
The Royals failed to score on Joba Chamberlain in the seventh and eighth, and the young Nebraska-born right-hander shut down the home team with many of his family, including his polio-stricken father in attendance.
"I don't think as a starter he was throwing that hard, but he looks good out there," said Gordon, who faced his former college teammate. "He looks confident and that's the big thing up here."
Mariano Rivera retired the side in order in the ninth for his 24th save.
"That's a big win for us," Abreu said. "We start a series over here and our guy pitched a pretty good game. We were just fighting and finally we got the win."
Kansas City failed to score in the first despite loading the bases, and the home team paid for that mistake when Rodriguez powered a low Meche slider off the top of the wall in left and over for a 1-0 Yankees lead to start the second. Two batters later, Posada cleared the right-field wall for a 2-0 lead.
The Royals responded in their at bat when Gordon doubled, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Smith's single. John Buck singled to move Smith to third and he came home on Grudzielanek's base hit to tie the game, 2-2.
In the sixth, Rodriguez singled and moved to third when Meche's throw to second on Matsui's ground ball sailed into center. Posada grounded into a force at second, but Jason Giambi drew a walk to load the bases. Meche, though, recovered to get Robinson Cano looking to end the threat.
Game Notes
The Yankees own the best record of any AL team against the Central (28-11)...New York has won seven of eight over the Royals this season...Attendance was 27,462.
<< Smoltz flirts with no-hitter; Braves down Nats
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Smoltz nearly etched his name into the
history books, tossing seven no-hit innings, as the Atlanta Braves beat the
Washington Nationals, 7-1, in the start of a three-game series.
Making the 698th a
<< Milledge, Mets crush Astros
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lastings Milledge's three-run homer
highlighted a six-run sixth inning as the New York Mets thumped the Houston
Astros, 11-3, in the opener of a three-game set at Shea Stadium.
Milledge ended 2-
<< Lester leads Red Sox to shutout over Orioles
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester scattered four hits over seven
shutout innings as Boston blanked Baltimore, 4-0, in the second contest of a
four-game set at Camden Yards.
Lester (4-0) retired 11 batters in a row and
<< McGowan, Blue Jays top Devil Rays
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin McGowan hurled eight innings and
struck out a career-high twelve as the Toronto Blue Jays took the first
game of a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-2, at Tropicana
Field.
Catalanotto leads Rangers past A's >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Frank Catalanotto finished 3-for-4 with three
RBI and two runs scored, and fell a double short of the cycle to lead the
Texas Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the opener of a
three-g
Webb helps D-backs extend NL West lead, down Cards >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Webb ended a personal two-start losing
streak, allowing four hits over six solid innings, and the Arizona
Diamondbacks began a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at
Chase F
Burris, Stampeders edge Eskimos >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris completed 18-of-31 passes for 220
yards and two touchdowns as Calgary edged Edmonton, 20-17, in the back half of
the Labour Day Classic from Commonwealth Stadium.
Joffrey Reynolds ran for 100 yard
White Sox rally late, then top Twins in 13th >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Pierzynski's RBI single in the 13th inning
gave the Chicago White Sox an 11-10 win over the Minnesota Twins in a contest
that saw both teams score six runs in the ninth inning to send it to extra
frames.
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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