Division rivals collide as Mariners visit A's

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-year lefty Brett Anderson can pitch the Oakland Athletics a game closer to .500 and keep them an outside contender in the American League playoff race today, when the team hosts the Seattle Mariners for the first of three games at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The Athletics come in after taking two of three from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim over the weekend, though they lost by a 7-4 score on Sunday. Bobby Abreu drove in three runs and scored three times to lead the Angels.

Jeff Larish hit a two-run double for Oakland, which has dropped five of seven. A's starter Vin Mazzaro (6-8) was rocked in 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits as the right-hander lost his sixth straight decision.

The Athletics are now two games below .500 at 67-69 and sit eight games behind the Texas Rangers in the chase for AL's West Division title. The Rangers, who lost slugging outfielder Josh Hamilton to injury over the weekend, begin a four-game series today in Toronto.

Anderson, a 22-year-old from Midland, Texas, was 3-2 on the season after a 4-3 defeat of the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 4 in Oakland. He's 0-4 in five starts since, however, including a six-inning stint en route to a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.

He's pitched at least six innings in four of those five starts, allowing 34 hits and 14 runs in 28 innings.

The slump began against the Mariners on Aug. 10 in Seattle, when Anderson allowed five hits and a run in seven innings of a 2-1 loss.

He is 2-2 in six home starts in 2010.

Seattle counters with 27-year-old southpaw Jason Vargas, who'll seek his first win since Aug. 14.

The former second-round pick of the Florida Marlins defeated the Cleveland Indians to improve to a career-best 9-5 that day, but has lost three subsequent starts against the Yankees, Minnesota and the Angels.

Vargas picked up his initial win of 2010 against the Athletics after tossing six innings and allowing five hits and two runs while walking none and striking out six in Seattle on April 14.

He's 2-0 in three career games against Oakland with a 1.69 earned run average in 10 2/3 innings.

Seattle comes in off a winning effort on Sunday, when Russell Branyan homered and drove in two runs to back eight scoreless innings by Felix Hernandez as the Mariners topped Cleveland, 3-0, at Safeco Field.

Oakland has won five of six meetings with the Mariners held at the Coliseum this year, as well as seven of 12 overall matchups between the teams in 2010.

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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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