Angels aim to further bury struggling A's

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are set to play the second contest of a three-game weekend series from the Coliseum this evening.

Pitcher Scott Kazmir has fallen far short of expectations for the Angels this season, a major reason that the team continues to trail division-leading Texas in the American League West race. Kazmir is 7-8 with a 5.98 ERA for the year and was torched for seven earned runs in 6 1/3 innings by the White Sox on Monday. The hard-throwing lefty has only struck out 58 batters in 87 1/3 innings while walking 46.

Kazmir did win his only previous start against Oakland this season and is 9-3 lifetime with a 2.85 ERA versus the Athletics.

A's starter Ben Sheets is just 3-8 this season with a 4.89 ERA, but there is reason for optimism in Oakland. The big righty, who takes the mound tonight, allowed three earned runs over a season-high 7 1/3 innings Monday against the New York Yankees, and while that game did end in defeat, Sheets finally feels back to form after missing last season due to elbow surgery.

Sheets has faced the Angels four times in his career, and while his 3.67 ERA against the squad is solid, he has yet to win a game (0-2).

Erick Aybar's leadoff homer in the 10th proved to be the difference in Friday's series opener as the Angels defeated the A's, 6-5, despite squandering three different leads.

Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu each added a two-run homer for the Angels, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Hideki Matsui added a sacrifice fly in the victory.

"We need to focus on our club, not who we're playing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after the game. "We have a lot of things on our club we need to tighten up a little bit, do more consistently. Obviously, out of the batter's box we did a better job tonight and got the win."

Joel Pineiro was in line for the win after allowing three runs in seven solid innings, but the Angels righty had his six-start win streak snapped after Fernando Rodney gave up two runs in the eighth. Kevin Jepsen (1-1) received the win and Brian Fuentes recorded his 16th save by throwing the ninth.

Jack Cust hit a solo home run for the Athletics, who have lost four in a row. Kevin Kouzmanoff finished with two hits and Coco Crisp had an RBI in defeat.

Vin Mazzaro yielded three runs, four hits and three walks in a seven-inning start for Oakland, while Andrew Bailey (0-3) was saddled with the loss after giving up Aybar's game-winning homer.

"You really want to win that first one, especially after getting swept by the Yankees," Bailey said. "It's a tough loss. We have to do our jobs and win the next two."

The Angels have won seven of 11 meetings with Oakland this season and are 11-4 in the 15 most recent contests between the AL West foes.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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