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07/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second straight season, the Philadelphia Phillies have acquired one of the top available pitchers prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. The timing couldn't be better, as the club has used a season-high winning streak to make up ground in the National League East.
The second-place Phillies hope newly-acquired Roy Oswalt can pitch them to a ninth straight victory this evening in the opener of a three-game series with the hosting Washington Nationals.
Philadelphia was a bigger winner at last year's deadline, getting Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians for a handful of prospects. Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 earned run average in 12 regular-season starts with the Phillies, helping them reach the World Series for a second straight season.
Lee was traded this offseason to Seattle for prospects after the Phils nabbed Roy Halladay from Toronto in a deal. But with Jaime Moyer injured, Joe Blanton struggling and little depth in the rotation this year, the Phillies sent pitcher J.A. Happ and two prospects to the Houston Astros on Thursday for Oswalt, who will team with Halladay and Cole Hamels at the top of Philadelphia's rotation.
"It's exciting for sure," Oswalt told MLB.com. "I think it works out for both of us. Houston's getting good prospects and another pitcher, and I'm getting to go to a great team. I'm happy for both sides. From the very beginning, I said I wouldn't accept it unless it worked out for both of us, and I think it worked out."
The right-handed Oswalt is just 6-12 on the season despite a 3.42 ERA, but was averaging just 2.26 runs of support in his 20 starts, Houston's offense was limited to two runs or less in 12 of those outings and scored just four runs over Oswalt's last six starts with the Astros.
Oswalt, who had to waive a no-trade clause to make the deal happen, leaves Houston having gone 143-82 with a 3.24 ERA in 303 games (291 starts) over nine-plus seasons, leaving him one victory shy of tying Joe Niekro for most wins in franchise history.
The 32-year-old is 3-2 with a 3.52 ERA lifetime versus the Nats, who pounded him for four runs on four hits and three walks in a loss on May 31. Oswalt's frustration got the better of him that night, and he was ejected after just 2 1/3 innings of work for his shortest outing of the season.
Oswalt joins a Phillies club that has won eight in a row to get within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Braves. Philadelphia's bullpen blew a ninth-inning lead in Thursday's finale of a three-game series with Arizona, but Wilson Valdez hit the Phils to victory with a game-winning RBI single in the 11th inning of a 3-2 triumph.
Philadelphia hits the road for six straight after winning all seven games of its homestand. It marked its first perfect homestand of at least six games since Aug. 6-12, 1991.
The Nationals gave the Phillies some help on Thursday when they knocked off the Braves, 5-3, to take two of three in the series and win for the fourth time in 12 games. Their reward is a matchup with Oswalt.
"[Oswalt's] a power pitcher. A lot of us have faced him plenty," Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "It's not like a new guy we've ever faced before, but he's been one of the better pitchers in the league the last 10 years and he comes right at you."
Ian Desmond and Adam Dunn, who could see himself traded prior to Saturday's deadline, both homered for Washington and Scott Olsen got the win after allowing three runs -- two earned -- over six innings in his return from the disabled list.
Matt Capps notched his 26th save for Washington, but was then traded after the game to the Twins. In return, the Nationals received Wilson Ramos, one of the top catching prospects in baseball, and minor league pitcher Joe Testa.
Craig Stammen draws the unfortunate task of opposing Oswalt in his Phillies debut. The right-hander has struggled against Philadelphia in two career starts -- both this year -- allowing 11 runs in 6 1/3 total innings without a decision. The bulk of that damage came on April 14, when he gave up seven runs over just 1 1/3 frames.
Stammen is 2-4 with a 5.50 ERA this year and winless in four starts since a victory on June 29. The 26-year-old has gone 0-2 with a 6.86 ERA in that time and got a no-decision versus Milwaukee on Friday after allowing three runs on five hits over five innings.
The Phillies have won four of six over Washington this year, taking two of three at Nationals Park from April 5-8. Philadelphia is 22-5 over its last 27 meetings versus Washington and won seven of nine in D.C. last year.
<< 2010 FBS Positional Analysis: Linebackers
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They are free to roam the middle of the
field, looking to lay the lumber on the ball-carriers and receivers that dare
to enter their domain. The job of the linebacker is to be instinctual, to be in
the right
<< Division leaders square off in Cincinnati
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of National League divisional front-runners get
together for a potential playoff preview tonight when the Central-leading
Cincinnati Reds host the East-leading Atlanta Braves in the first of three at
Great American Ba
<< Twins return home to face Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a wildly successful road trip, the surging
Minnesota Twins return to Target Field this evening to play the first of three
consecutive matchups with the Seattle Mariners.
The Twins are back home after going 6-1 on
<< Royals continue set with Orioles in Kansas City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles hope a flurry of changes can help
lead to more results like the team produced on Thursday.
The revamped club will set its sights on a second straight victory over the
Kansas City Royals, who'll be out
Cards hope for boost from Carpenter in battle with Bucs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis' bats have failed the Cardinals on more than one
occasion over the club's current funk. With Chris Carpenter set to take the
hill tonight versus Pittsburgh, those struggles might be forgiven tonight.
Carpenter wi
Angels try to gain some ground on Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After struggling badly during one of their most
challenging stretches of the season, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim now
find themselves faced with what could be a make-or-break three-game series
with the Texas Rangers that
Cubs head to Colorado to take on slumping Rox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Canadian-born lefty Jeff Francis can get the Colorado
Rockies started on a long-awaited win streak tonight, when the team hosts the
Chicago Cubs to open a three-game weekend series at Coors Field.
The Rockies sit on the ve
Ravens CB Foxworth tears ACL, out for the season >>
Westminster, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Ravens cornerback Dominique
Foxworth will apparently miss the upcoming season after tearing his anterior
cruciate ligament.
Foxworth limped off the field during orientation practice on Th
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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.
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