Kawakami effective in debut as Braves down Nats

Baseball Betting Lines

04/11/2009 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kenshin Kawakami tossed six solid innings in his major league debut, as the Atlanta Braves downed Washington, 5-3, to keep the Nationals winless so far this season.

Kawakami (1-0), the first Japanese-born player in Braves history, allowed three runs on four hits and four walks. The 33-year-old also struck out eight in picking up the win.

Kawakami's effort on the mound was backed by Kelly Johnson, who went 3-for-4 with a double, home run and three runs batted in. Jordan Schafer had three hits, including two doubles, for the Braves, who moved to 4-1 this season and have already won their first two series.

Atlanta took two of three games from Philadelphia to begin the 2009 campaign and have now won the first two of this three-game set against the Nationals.

John Lannan (0-2) took the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits and three walks in six innings of work. Lannan also struck out three in the loss, Washington's fifth in a row to open the year. Washington is one of two teams without a win this season, the other being Cleveland, which lost to Toronto earlier Saturday to also fall to 0-5.

Ryan Zimmerman powered Washington's offense with a two-run homer, his first of the season, also drawing a walk in the loss.

Atlanta won only after erasing the 3-0 lead Washington had built up over the first three innings. The Braves got one run in the home third when Johnson smacked a leadoff homer to right field and added three more in the fourth.

With a runner on first, Schafer doubled to put both runners in scoring position. Kawakami grounded out, but Johnson followed with a two-run double to center, tying the game.

Atlanta's rally continued when Yunel Escobar reached on an infield single, leaving runners on the corners. Chipper Jones then lined a single to left to bring home Johnson, giving the Braves a 4-3 lead.

Kawakami settled down after allowing his three runs and, after his six innings, handed the ball off to Peter Moylan, who struck out the side in the seventh.

Rafael Soriano took over on the mound in the top of the eighth for the Braves and held Washington scoreless, despite allowing a leadoff double to Cristian Guzman.

Escobar's RBI single in the bottom half of the eighth provided an extra run for Atlanta, and Mike Gonzalez tossed a perfect ninth to notch his first save of the season.

The Nationals got on the scoreboard in the first, when Nick Johnson singled in a run. Zimmerman's opposite field two-run shot in the third made it a 3-0 Washington lead.

Game Notes

Kawakami spent last season with the Chunichi Dragons, going 9-5 with a 2.30 earned run average in 20 games (16 starts). However, he missed most of September with a strained back. He won 112 games in 11 seasons in Japan, earned MVP honors, as well as the Sawamura Award -- Japan's equivalent to the Cy Young -- in 2004 after going 17-7 with a 3.32 ERA...Lannan entered the game with a 2-0 record at Turner Field and a 0.69 ERA (one run in 13 innings)...The Braves left 10 runners on base, while the Nats stranded five.

Wwwgalttech Baseball Betting News

<< Guthrie, O's bullpen silences Rays
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Guthrie threw six shutout innings while Melvin Mora had a grand slam as the Baltimore Orioles downed the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-0, in the second of a three-game set at Camden Yards. Guthrie (2-0) gav

<< Devereaux's hat trick propels Toronto past Ottawa
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boyd Devereaux registered his second career hat trick, and Niklas Hagman scored twice, as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Ottawa Senators, 5-2, in the season finale for both teams at Air Canada Centre.

<< Pistons fall to Pacers at Conseco
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Granger had 24 points, including the two game-sealing free throws, as the Indiana Pacers edged the Detroit Pistons, 106-102, at Conseco Fieldhouse. Brandon Rush hit a career-high five thr

<< Fleury helps Penguins top Canadiens
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves, as the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens to finish up the regular season for both squads at the Bell Centre. Maxime Talbot, Kris Letang

<< Orlando's Turkoglu leaves with ankle injury
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic may have suffered a serious blow to their playoff run as swingman Hedo Turkoglu was helped off the floor after turning his ankle in Saturday's game against the Nets. Turkoglu, who w

Reyes, Mets deal Marlins first loss >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jose Reyes finished 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBI as the New York Mets doubled up Florida, 8-4, in the middle test of a three-game set from Dolphin Stadium. Carlos Delgado collected three hits and

Sabathia gets first win as a Yankee in win over Royals >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CC Sabathia dazzled on the mound to get his first win as a Yankee, as New York made short work of the Kansas City Royals, 6-1, in the second installment of a three-game set from Kauffman Stadium. Sabathia

Armstrong helps Thrashers end season with win over Tampa >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Armstrong scored twice to lead the Atlanta Thrashers past the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-2, in a battle between two teams eliminated from the playoffs at Philips Arena. Eric Perrin, Ilya Kovalchuk,

Red Bulls, Dynamo battle to scoreless draw >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Red Bulls and Houston Dynamo entered Week 4 of the Major League Soccer season with identical 0-2-1 records despite playing each other in the 2008 MLS Cup semifinals. After battling to a phys

Terriers shock RedHawks to win men's national hockey title >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Cohen tallied with 8:13 remaining in the first overtime as Boston University rallied from a late two-goal deficit to defeat Miami-Ohio, 4-3, in the NCAA men's hockey national championship at Verizon

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:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards