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02/13/2012 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox and designated hitter David Ortiz have avoided salary arbitration and agreed to a one-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Boston Globe reported the deal to be worth $14.575 million. The two sides were set for an arbitration hearing on Monday, with the Sox offering $12.65 million and Ortiz requesting $16.5 million.
Ortiz has played for the Red Sox since 2003 and was an integral part of their two World Series championship teams in 2004 and '07. Nowhere near the feared hitter he once was, Ortiz still batted .309, hit 29 homers and drove in 96 runs last season.
It was the eighth time that he reached the 25-homer plateau in a Boston uniform, surpassing Jim Rice for second-most in franchise history. Only Ted Williams has more with 14.
Ortiz is fifth all-time in Red Sox annals with 320 homers and sixth in RBI with 1,028.
A seven-time All-Star, Ortiz spent his first six seasons with the Twins and is a career .283 hitter with 378 homers, 1,266 runs batted in and a .544 slugging percentage in 1,742 big league games.
<< McCarthy axed by Wolves
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolverhampton sacked manager Mick
McCarthy on Monday after the club's 5-1 defeat to West Bromwich over the
weekend left Wolves in the relegation zone.
The move brings to an end McCarthy's
<< Report: Garland headed to Cleveland
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians have reportedly agreed
to a minor league contract with veteran pitcher Jon Garland.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the pact includes an invitation to
spring training if the
<< Randy Moss apparently planning a comeback
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Moss is apparently planning a
comeback.
Moss decided to retire last August after 13 NFL seasons and told an audience
on UStream.tv Monday about trying to return for 2012. He just turned 35
<< Speir completes Western Carolina coaching staff
Cullowhee, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Western Carolina first-year head football
coach Mark Speir has completed his coaching staff by adding defensive
coordinator responsibilities to linebackers coach Curtis Walker and naming
Steve Sisa the defensive
Villa's Dunne to miss two months >>
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne is
set to spend the next two months on the sidelines after sustaining a broken
shoulder in Sunday's 1-0 defeat against Manchester City.
Dunne suffered the injury
Udinese suffers double injury blow >>
Udine, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Udinese confirmed on Monday that midfielder
Mauricio Isla and striker Antonio Di Natale will both miss the next few weeks
after sustaining injuries in the club's 2-1 win over AC Milan.
Isla has tallied t
Sandusky can have contact with grandchildren >>
Bellefonte, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry
Sandusky can have contact with most of his grandchildren and will have a local
jury when his child sex abuse trial begins in May.
Sandusky is under electronic m
Benfica's Garcia out for Zenit match >>
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia has been
ruled out for the first leg of the club's Champions League round of 16
encounter with Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday.
Garcia missed the club's 4-1 wi
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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