09/13/2008 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Harrison threw his first career shutout, a five-hitter, to lead the Texas Rangers to a 7-0 win over Oakland in the second of four games with the Athletics.
The rookie left-hander Harrison (8-3) walked four and struck out five for the Rangers, who have won three of four. Harrison had previously thrown eight shutout innings on August 16 against Tampa Bay.
Taylor Teagarden and Hank Blalock each hit a solo homer for Texas, while Chris Davis finished with two hits and two runs batted in.
Greg Smith (7-15) took the loss after surrendering six runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, with two walks and two strikeouts.
Kurt Suzuki had two of the five hits for Oakland, which has dropped two straight contests.
Blalock put Texas on the scoreboard in the second inning with his seventh homer of the season, and third in as many games. Teagarden added his fifth of the year in the third inning for a 2-0 lead.
Smith's start began to unravel in the fourth, after he loaded the bases with a double to Josh Hamilton, a Marlon Byrd single and a walk to Nelson Cruz. Blalock followed with a deep fly to right field that served as a sacrifice fly, while Gerald Laird followed with another sac fly. Davis then doubled in Cruz for a 5-0 Rangers advantage.
Davis tripled in Laird in the sixth inning, after Laird had doubled, which prompted Smith to be removed from the game. Jeff Gray came on in relief, but ran into trouble in the seventh when the Rangers loaded the bases on three singles. Gray then plunked Cruz in the hand to force in a run for a seven-run cushion.
Harrison, meanwhile, worked out of a few potentially dangerous situations. He stranded runners on first and third in the second, and worked around a two-out double in the third. He got a key double play in the fourth with no outs and two runners on, then struck out Jack Hannahan to end the frame.
Harrison settled down from there, though in the ninth gave up a two-out single to Suzuki and walked Bobby Crosby. However, he was left in the game and Texas shortstop Michael Young snagged a liner from Hannahan to end the contest.
Game Notes
Harrison is the first rookie left-hander in Rangers history to win eight games in a single season...The Rangers stranded five runners, while Oakland left seven on base...Texas turned two double plays, giving the Rangers 180 this season. That leads the major leagues and set a new club record.
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With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
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Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
Get all your baseball betting lines, MLB lines and MLB team props at the My Sportbook.
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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 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.
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