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07/18/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday's two-out, game-winning RBI single capped a five-run rally in the final two innings, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a four-game sweep at Busch Stadium.
Entering the ninth protecting a one-run lead, Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton (3-1) couldn't hang on. Yadier Molina, who didn't start due to a scheduled game off, singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After left fielder Xavier Paul made a running grab on Felipe Lopez's fly ball, Jon Jay kept the game alive with a walk.
Allen Craig followed with a single up the middle, scoring Molina without a throw, and Holliday laced a Broxton offering off the wall in right to plate the game-winner in Jay.
Craig, starting at first on his 26th birthday in place of Albert Pujols (rest), finished with two hits and three RBI for the Cardinals, who have won five straight and evened the all-time series between these storied franchises at 998-998-16. Randy Winn added two hits and an RBI in the win.
Ryan Franklin (4-1) earned the win for tossing a scoreless ninth inning.
The Dodgers, who have lost five of six, got six shutout innings from Vicente Padilla before the bullpen faltered. Travis Schlichting gave up two runs in 1 1/3 frames before Justin Miller yielded another run without retiring a batter.
Trailing by four in the eighth, the Cardinals crept closer with three runs off the Dodgers' bullpen.
Schlichting began his second inning on the mound by walking Brendan Ryan. Two batters later, Jay walked, and Craig greeted Miller with a double to left, bringing in both runners. Broxton was quickly summoned from the bullpen, and he allowed a two-out, run-scoring single to Winn to make it a 4-3 game.
Broxton followed by walking Skip Schumaker, but induced a groundout from pinch-hitter Pujols to end the threat and get to the ninth.
The Dodgers managed only one runner in scoring position in the first four innings, but Ronnie Belliard began the fifth with a single. Paul grounded into a fielder's choice before A.J. Ellis' single put runners on the corners.
Padilla stepped up to the plate and belted the first pitch he saw for a double, easily scoring Paul for a 1-0 advantage.
While St. Louis' offense was shut down by Padilla, Los Angeles scored three times in the seventh off Mitchell Boggs to increase its lead. Belliard singled, and Ellis reached on a one-out error. Garret Anderson pinch-hit for Padilla and smacked an RBI double to left before Ellis raced home on a wild pitch. Matt Kemp's walk with the bases loaded later in the inning put the visitors ahead, 4-0.
Game Notes
Dodgers manager Joe Torre celebrated his 70th birthday Sunday...LA first baseman James Loney (hamstring) did not play...St. Louis won the season series, 4-3, with the home team winning each contest...Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez (calf) and catcher Russell Martin (thumb) both sat out...The Cardinals have recorded an extra-base hit in 46 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors...Padilla has allowed two or fewer runs while throwing 6 2/3 innings in four straight starts. He yielded one hit and five walks on Sunday...Jeff Suppan gave up one run on five hits and a walk in six innings in the start for St. Louis...The Cardinals are 15-3 in regular season contests against the Dodgers at new Busch Stadium. St. Louis is also 14-1, including an 8-0 mark against Los Angeles, in games during the first home series following the All-Star break at new Busch Stadium.
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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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