Dodgers to host Rockies in key divisional set

Baseball Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier will bring his Triple Crown numbers and late-game heroics into Friday's opener of a three- game series versus the NL West-rival Colorado Rockies at Chavez Ravine.

Ethier was at it again in last night's 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, helping the Dodgers salvage the finale of a three-game set. After Los Angeles closer Jonathan Broxton blew his second save and spoil John Ely's bid for his first major league win, Ethier clubbed a LaTroy Hawkins offering over the wall in center field for a grand slam and the 11th walkoff hit of his young career.

"I want to go up there in that situation, I want to end the game right there," said Ethier, who cracked four game-winning homers a year ago. "[Hawkins] threw me a fastball right down the middle. I just put an easy swing on it and it just kept going."

The lefty is tied with Arizona's Kelly Johnson for the National League lead in homers (10) and leads the NL in average (.371) and RBI (30).

Ethier's hit made a winner out of Broxton, while Ely tossed 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and struck out seven batters.

James Loney knocked in a run in his sixth straight game and Xavier Paul ended with two hits, two runs scored and an RBI for Los Angeles, which has won four of six and improved to 4-3 on a 10-game homestand.

Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda hopes to build off an impressive outing his last time out when he toes the rubber this evening. Kuroda beat Pittsburgh on Sunday with eight innings of one-run ball and lowered his earned run average from 2.36 to 2.08. The Japanese right-hander is 3-1 in five starts but winless in his career against the Rockies, having gone 0-2 with a 7.00 earned run average in three starts.

Los Angeles is 4-1 when Kuroda takes the mound this season.

Colorado, meanwhile, will continue a nine-game road trip Friday and has won three of its last four games. It took two of three matchups with San Diego and is coming off Wednesday's 6-5 victory in 12 innings thanks to Ian Stewart's solo home run in the top of the 12th.

Manuel Corpas tossed 2 2/3 scoreless frames of relief to post the win for the Rockies, who recorded their first road series victory of the season. Starter Aaron Cook lasted five innings, allowing five runs on six hits.

"We've had a couple of rough series on the road, so to get this win was big for us, (especially) against a really good team playing good baseball right now," Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes said on the team's website. "Hopefully this will boost us to play the way we know we're capable of playing."

Barmes went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and a run scored for Colorado, which is 3-3 on the trek and got an RBI apiece from Seth Smith and Melvin Mora.

Esmil Rogers is scheduled to make his third career start tonight for the Rockies and lost his most recent outing in a 6-1 setback at San Francisco on Saturday. The Giants pounded Rogers for five runs, four of which were earned, and five hits in four innings.

The Dominican right-hander is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in four games (1 start) this season and has never faced the Dodgers.

Los Angeles owned Colorado last season to the tune of a 14-4 record, including victories in seven of nine games held in Hollywood. The Dodgers have also won four of the last five encounters in this series and are 24-12 in the past 36 meetings between the NL West inhabitants.

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

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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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