Twins continue set with Royals
Baseball Betting Lines
09/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Capturing a second straight American League Central title may be the Minnesota Twins' main objective, but judging by the team's performance at Target Field this season, having home-field advantage for the opening round of the playoffs would be a big deal as well.
The first-place Twins will try to move a step closer towards accomplishing both goals in tonight's middle test of a three-game series with the visiting Kansas City Royals.
Minnesota maintained its 3 1/2-game advantage on the determined Chicago White Sox for the Central's top spot with Monday's 5-4 decision over the Royals. The win was the Twins' fourth in a row and ninth in their last 11 contests, and improved Ron Gardenhire's squad to an outstanding 46-23 at Target Field this season.
The Twins have now won 17 of their past 20 games at the first-year ballpark and are in excellent position to start the postseason at home if they can hold off the White Sox for the division crown. With both the top team and the wild card likely to come out of the AL East, Minnesota currently owns a 5 1/2-game lead on West front-runner Texas for the No. 2 seed for the upcoming playoffs.
Jason Kubel snapped a 2-2 tie in Monday's matchup with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Jim Thome belting a solo shot two batters later to give the Twins a three-run cushion. The long ball was the 585th of Thome's storied career, moving the veteran slugger one away from catching Frank Robinson for eighth place on baseball's all-time list.
Thome's homer also proved to be an important one, as the Royals scored twice in the top of the sixth to pull within 5-4. They would get no closer, however, as relievers Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain and Matt Capps kept Kansas City off the board over the final three frames to come out on top.
Capps threw a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his 10th save since joining Minnesota in a trade with Washington just prior to the July 31 non-waiver deadline.
"It's been a lot of fun," Capps said about his time with the Twins. "Hopefully, we keep playing good baseball and it remains fun."
Brayan Pena finished 2-for-4 with two RBI for Kansas City, losers of four of its five games. Starting pitcher Sean O'Sullivan (2-5) was hung with the defeat after allowing five runs, including the pivotal homers to Kubel and Thome, over 4 2/3 innings of work.
"Two pitches changed the whole game," O'Sullivan said afterward.
The Royals hope to fair better tonight behind Brian Bannister in the right- hander's return from a month-long stint on the disabled list due to shoulder tendinitis.
Bannister had been struggling mightily prior to being shelved on August 3, losing five straight starts and going 1-7 with a brutal 7.96 earned run average over a 10-game stretch beginning in mid-June. One of those setbacks came against the Twins in Kansas City on July 28, when he was reached for five runs and 11 hits over six innings.
The 29-year-old, who tossed 3 1/3 scoreless frames in his final rehab assignment for Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday, did throw 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball to beat Minnesota on April 25 and is 4-5 with a 4.36 ERA over 12 lifetime starts against the Twins.
Minnesota counters with Francisco Liriano, who'll putting his unbeaten second- half record on the line in tonight's tilt. In nine starts since the All-Star break, the tough left-hander has compiled a 6-0 mark along with a sensational 2.17 ERA and allowed only a single home run in a span of 58 innings.
Liriano didn't come up with a victory his last time out, although he certainly deserved one after limiting Detroit to five hits and striking out seven batters over seven shutout innings on Wednesday. He exited the game with a 1-0 lead, but the Tigers would tie it against the Minnesota bullpen later on.
The Dominican native also fired seven scoreless frames in a July 26 encounter at Kansas City, this time gaining the win in a 19-1 Twins' rout. The effort moved Liriano to 4-3 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 career appearances (seven starts) against the Royals.
In 13 starts at Target Field, where he hasn't lost since June 28, Liriano is 6-3 with an impressive 2.51 ERA.
The 26-year-old will be trying to pitch the Twins to a fifth consecutive win over Kansas City. Minnesota has gone 10-3 against the Royals so far this season and has prevailed in five of the seven games between the teams held in Minneapolis.
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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.
It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.
As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.
Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.
Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.
Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.