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08/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs may have been shocked at first by Lou Piniella's sudden retirement, but the team appears to be handling the changing of the guard at the managerial position quite well.
Chicago goes for a sweep of its initial series under interim skipper Mike Quade when the club completes a three-game road set with the struggling Washington Nationals this evening.
Piniella had planned to retire at the conclusion of this season, but the 66- year-old switched gears and stepped down following the Cubs' 16-5 loss to Atlanta on Sunday. The three-time Manager of the Year pushed up the timetable in order to spend more time with his ill mother in Florida.
Chicago had lost six of its final seven games with Piniella at the helm, but has won the first two tests since Quade was promoted from third base coach. After cruising to a 9-1 victory over the Nationals in Quade's debut on Monday, the Cubs built a comfortable early lead and held on for a 5-4 triumph in last night's middle test of this series.
Former Nat Alfonso Soriano staked Chicago to a quick advantage by belting a three-run homer in the top of the second inning, with Tyler Colvin connecting on a two-run shot in the fourth to put the Cubs ahead by a 5-0 count. The two long balls enabled Carlos Zambrano (5-6) to notch his fifth win of 2010 after the veteran starter yielded just one run and five hits while fanning eight batters over a season-high 7 1/3 innings.
Both homers came against Washington lefty John Lannan (5-6), who surrendered five runs (four earned) in five innings to suffer the loss, the sixth in eight games for the Nationals.
"Soriano has hurt us in this ballpark a number of times," said Washington manager Jim Riggleman. "John battled him tough and threw some good pitches, but Soriano won that battle."
Zambrano retired 13 men over a 14-hitter stretch before being chased by Nyjer Morgan's one-out single in the eighth. Reliever Sean Marshall got the Cubs out of the inning unscathed, but closer Carlos Marmol ran into a heap of trouble in Washington's half of the ninth.
The Nationals loaded the bases on two walks and a base hit before Adam Kennedy laced a two-out double into the right-field corner to clear the sacks and pull his team within 5-4. Marmol would retire Ryan Zimmerman on a fly ball that was caught near the warning track in right, however, to end the threat and the game.
"You do this sometimes and he's lights out," said Quade about Marmol. "Other times he's not, but I'll tell you that more times not you leave here winning. Just get it done, and he did."
Chicago now tries to remain unbeaten under Quade and win three straight contests for the first time since July 5-7 when it takes the field tonight behind the streaking Ryan Dempster. The right-hander has amassed a 3-0 record along with a stellar 1.65 earned run average in four August starts and sports a 4-1 ledger over eight outings since the All-Star break.
Dempster did have a three-start win streak come to an end in Friday's matchup with the Braves, although he certainly pitched well enough to prevail. The native Canadian worked eight innings that day and held Atlanta to two runs on four hits, but wound up without a decision after Marmol blew a save chance in the ninth.
The 33-year-old has been Chicago's most consistent hurler this season, having generated an 11-8 record with a solid 3.56 ERA over 26 starts, and he's 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 21 lifetime appearances (13 starts) against the Washington/Montreal franchise. That lone defeat did take place on April 28 of this year, however, after Dempster was reached for three runs in eight innings of a 3-2 verdict.
Dempster will be opposed tonight by a former teammate in ex-Cub Jason Marquis, who's endured a miserable first season in the nation's capital. The free-agent pickup has lost all six of his starts thus far in 2010 and managed a horrid 11.39 ERA over those games, in addition to missing nearly four months after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips in his pitching elbow.
Marquis did have an encouraging performance in Philadelphia this past Friday, however, as he held the Phillies to one run on four hits in five innings of work. The right-hander still received a loss, however, when his team was shut out by a 1-0 count.
The 32-year-old went 25-18 for the Cubs during the 2007 and 2008 seasons before matching a career high with 15 wins with Colorado last year. He's 4-6 lifetime versus Chicago with a 4.42 ERA over 13 games (12 starts).
Chicago has now won six straight times over the Nationals in Washington, but dropped two of three tests between the teams in the Windy City back in April.
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
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