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Jimenez goes for win No. 16 in south Florida

Baseball Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Rockies and Marlins have struggled on offense in the second half. Given Tuesday's pitching matchup, neither team is likely to break out at the plate on Monday night.

National League All-Star starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who seeks a career-high 16th victory tonight, resumes his season for Colorado in the opener of a four-game series versus Anibal Sanchez and the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

The Rockies and Marlins are both coming off 1-0 victories on Sunday and neither team has scored more than two runs in a game since the All-Star break.

Florida took two of three from Washington despite scoring just three runs in the series, kicking off a 10-game homestand. Emilio Bonifacio doubled in the fifth inning and scored the game's lone run when Gaby Sanchez hit a two-base hit of his own.

That was enough to give the Marlins their fourth win in six games and hand Alex Sanabia his first major league victory. The 21-year-old rookie hurled 5 1/3 scoreless innings, working around four hits and two walks while striking out five. Leo Nunez recorded his 22nd save of the year to cap the victory.

"It's exciting," Sanabia said about winning his first big league game. "Today was real special; got a win and the team a win. It worked out perfectly."

Colorado, meanwhile, posted just four runs over the weekend versus Cincinnati and avoided a three-game sweep with Sunday's triumph. Chris Iannetta hit a solo homer in the sixth inning to back seven scoreless innings from Aaron Cook, who gave up six hits en route to winning his first road start of the season.

"It was definitely an important game. For us, we get out of here with at least one win and go to Florida and hope we can get on a roll from here," said Cook, who retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.

Huston Street notched his sixth save of the season to help the Rockies snap a three-game slide and remain four games back of the first-place Padres in the NL West. Colorado's set in Ohio kicked of an 11-game road trip.

The Rockies should feel great about their chances tonight with Jimenez set to take the mound. The right-hander won his final start before the break, besting the Cardinals on July 8 with eight innings of one-run, three-hit ball to carry a 15-1 record and 2.20 earned run average into the hiatus. It was an important victory for Jimenez, who had allowed 17 runs over his previous three outings. Still, he leads the majors in victories and is the first NL pitcher to notch 15 wins before the All-Star break since Greg Maddux in 1988.

The 26-year-old, who hasn't lost since May 9, then started last Tuesday's All- Star Game in Anaheim and hurled two scoreless innings, working around two hits and a walk while throwing 15 of his 25 pitches for strikes.

"I was trying to slow down, trying to relax," Jimenez told MLB.com. "It was a challenge. I like to throw hard, especially in a game like this, with so many people in the stands, but I was able to control myself."

Jimenez is 9-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 10 road starts this season and 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in two career starts versus the Marlins. He has given up just two earned runs in 10 innings against them, striking out 15.

Sanchez, meanwhile, will make his career-high 18th start of the season tonight, surpassing the 17 he made as a rookie in 2006 during a solid 10-3 campaign. He is 7-6 with a 3.66 ERA this year, but lost his final two starts before the break while allowing nine earned runs over 10 innings.

The 26-year-old righty lasted just four innings versus the Diamondbacks on July 8, getting charged with six runs (five earned) on nine hits.

Sanchez has been tough at home, where he is 3-2 with a solid 2.50 ERA in eight starts. He has also beaten the Rockies in his only other start against them, holding the club to two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings of a 12-2 triumph on July 31, 2008.

The Rockies took two of three from the Marlins at home from April 24-25.

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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.

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