Johnson Acquires Vizcaino Down San

Baseball Betting Lines

San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Rizzo had a two-run single and Tim Stauffer tossed seven innings of one-run ball to lift San Diego over Kansas City, 4-1, to complete a three-game sweep. The series sweep was the first of the year for the Padres and the first since they took three games from the Los Angeles Dodgers from September 6-8 last season.

 

Heath Bell worked himself out of a jam in the ninth to earn his 23rd save of the year.

 

Kansas City struck first after Melky Cabrera doubled to left with one out in the third and came home two batters later on a Eric Hosmer liner to center field, giving the Royals a one-run advantage.

 

San Diego got that run back, plus more, thanks to defensive miscues by third baseman Moustakas in the bottom half of the inning. Tim Stauffer led off the inning by reaching base on a fielding error by Moustakas, and was followed by a Chris Denorfia single to put men on first and second with no outs. It looked like the Padres would leave the frame empty-handed, though, when the next two batters, Cameron Maybin and Chase Headly, hit weak pop ups, but Ryan Ludwick came through with a double down the left-field line to bring in Stauffer.

 

The Padres improved to 6-0 all-time against the Royals at Petco Park, leaving it as the only active ballpark in which the Royals have not recorded a victory...San Diego ended a six-game homestand with a 5-1 record...With the loss, Chen dropped his career record to 52-52.

 

The right-hander has pitched in 543 career games, all in relief, and has posted a 35-30 record with eight saves and a 4.33 ERA. Vizcaino has pitched for Oakland, Milwaukee, the Chicago White Sox, Arizona, the New York Yankees, Colorado, the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland, but hasn't seen any action since 2009.

 

Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Carpenter went the distance to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the middle contest of a three game interleague series at Camden Yards. Carpenter (3-7) gave up a run on seven hits, fanned three and walked one in his second complete game of the season and 31st of his career. He finished the game with 132 pitches -- 91 strikes -- the most he has thrown in a start since he tossed 134 back in 1998 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

Colby Rasmus belted a two-run homer and Skip Schumaker added a pair of hits, including an RBI single for St. Louis, which has won back-to-back games after being swept in its previous series against Toronto.

 

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Berkman worked a walk and Rasmus followed two batters later by blasting a fastball from Jakubauskas deep into the seats in right for his eighth home run of the season.

 

Baltimore got a run back in the third on Markakis' RBI double. After J.J. Hardy singled, Markakis followed by driving a ball into the right-center gap to close the deficit to 4-1.

 

The Cards added another run in the fifth. Schumaker led off with a double to deep center and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jay. After a two-out intentional walk to Berkman, Freese slapped an RBI single to center to push the lead out to 5-1.

 

The Cardinals are 6-5 in interleague play this season...Orioles first baseman Derrek Lee went 0-for-3 and is one hit shy of 1,900 for his career...Markakis extended his hitting streak to 18 games...Jay extended his hitting streak to five games...St. Louis is 3-5 without Albert Pujols...Schumaker hit his eighth double of the year in the fifth inning.

 

Johnson experienced right shoulder inflammation after his start on May 16 and had been throwing bullpen sessions before experiencing tightness on Friday. An MRI showed no structural damage, though there is no timetable for his return.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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