05/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the opportunity to achieve a series win over the defending world champions, the Minnesota Twins will send out their newfound ace in tonight's finale of a four-game set with the visiting Boston Red Sox.
Livan Hernandez has helped the Twins survive the offseason departure of two- time American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana with his early-season performance. The well-traveled veteran has won five of his first six decisions and amassed a solid 3.83 earned run average, while tossing six innings or more in all but one of his eight starts in 2008.
Hernandez, who signed with Minnesota in February, is fresh off a complete-game victory over division-rival Chicago on Wednesday. The 33-year-old scattered nine hits and walked just one in the Twins' 13-1 rout of the White Sox, which improved Minnesota to 7-1 in the games Hernandez has started this year.
The Cuban defector also was sharp in his previous outing, when he held Detroit to a run over seven innings in an 11-1 Twins' triumph on May 2.
Hernandez does not have a storied history when facing the Red Sox, however. He has lost both his lifetime starts against Boston and surrendered 12 runs (11 earned) along with 16 hits over just eight innings in those two games.
Pitching at the Metrodome should work in Hernandez's favor, though, as he's 3-0 with a 3.33 ERA in four home starts so far this season.
The AL Central-leading Twins have won two of the first three games against Boston, the current AL East front-runners, after holding on for a 9-8 decision on Sunday.
Craig Monroe clubbed a pair of homers and drove in four runs to lead Minnesota, which built an early 7-1 lead and survived a late Red Sox rally to win for the eighth time in 11 games. Justin Morneau had three hits and scored twice on the evening, while Adam Everett belted a two-run homer and Mike Lamb stroked a two-run single for the Twins.
Nick Blackburn (3-2) earned the victory after allowing nine hits and four runs through six innings. Twins closer Joe Nathan held on for his 12th save in as many opportunities despite allowing three hits and two runs in the ninth.
Coco Crisp smacked a two-run homer and had three RBI for Boston, while Alex Cora collected three hits in defeat.
Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield (3-2) had his shortest start since September 28, 2003. The knuckleball specialist was rocked for seven runs (6 earned) and seven hits over just 2 2/3 innings of work.
Boston hopes for a better showing tonight out of Clay Buchholz, who will make his first career start against Minnesota.
The rookie has been inconsistent so far during his first full major-league campaign. Buchholz went 2-1 with an impressive 1.40 ERA during a three-start stretch from April 21-May 2, but regressed with a shaky four-inning stint at Detroit on Wednesday. In that game, the young righty was tagged for five runs and a season-high 10 hits while lasting just four frames.
Buchholz has had some struggles pitching on the road, where the 23-year-old Texan has gone 0-2 with a 7.40 ERA in four starts.
The Red Sox hope to have Manny Ramirez back in the lineup tonight after the All-Star slugger was held out of last night's contest due to a sore right hamstring. Ramirez currently stands just three home runs shy of reaching 500 for his career.
Shortstop Julio Lugo also missed his second straight game for Boston because of a mild concussion and is questionable to play tonight.
Boston won two of three games from the Twins at the Metrodome last May, but the Red Sox have gone just 4-8 as the visitor in this series since the beginning of the 2005 season.
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Extending the streak may be
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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