A-Rod takes another crack at 600 in finale with Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The finale of the series between the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals could be a historic one, as Alex Rodriguez comes into the matchup one home run shy of becoming the seventh member of the 600 home run club.

Rodriguez has hit memorable homers against the Royals in the past, as the illustrious third baseman clubbed his first-ever homer and his 500th long ball against Kansas City.

A long ball from A-Rod might be needed in today's matchup, as the Yankees' starting pitcher Phil Hughes is scuffling through a major slump. In his last four starts the hard-throwing right-hander has surrendered 19 runs in 23 2/3 innings. Hughes has been pounded for 31 hits during that span, and that includes six home runs.

The last time the young hurler took the hill he was battered by the Angels, allowing six runs on nine hits and three walks. It was just the second home loss on the year for Hughes, who despite winning six of his 10 starts at Yankee Stadium, also possesses a meager 5.22 ERA in front of the home crowd.

Surprisingly the Royals have dominated Hughes in his young career. In three appearances -- two starts -- against KC, he has allowed nine runs on 13 hits and six walks in 8 2/3 innings.

The Royals will turn to newly acquired Sean O'Sullivan this afternoon. O'Sullivan came over in a trade with the Angels that sent Alberto Callaspo to Anaheim. Before being traded O'Sullivan made his first start on the year for the Angels, and ironically that came against Hughes and New York.

The California native received 10 runs in support and handled his business on the mound, holding the Yankees to just two runs in six innings. That was the first-ever meeting for the young hurler against the Bronx Bombers.

On Saturday, Scott Podsednik went 3-for-4, scored once and drove in a run, leading Kansas City to a 7-4 win. Jose Guillen added his 16th homer and drove in two runs, while Rick Ankiel also had two RBI for the Royals, who won for only the third time in 12 games overall.

Kyle Davies (5-6) recorded his first win since May 28th, going eight starts without one, after yielding four runs, seven hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Joakim Soria locked down his 27th save.

Mark Teixeira blasted two homers and drove in three for the Yankees, who fell to 5-3 on a nine-game homestand. Jorge Posada also homered in defeat.

Rodriguez, sitting on 599 career homers and facing Davies, off whom he belted his 500th home run, went 1-for-4 with an infield single.

Sergio Mitre (0-2) made his first start since May 16 and gave up seven runs -- five earned -- and seven hits in 4 1/3 frames. He is filling in for Andy Pettitte, who is expected to be out about a month with an injured groin.

Despite the loss the Yankees still own a commanding 16-5 ledger against the Royals at home.

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As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

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Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

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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:

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