Blue Jays host Indians in rubber match

Baseball Betting Lines

08/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians have split the first two games of this weekend's set and a series victory is up for grabs this afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Cleveland dwells in the basement of the AL Central with a 43-61 record, while Toronto's solid 54-50 mark still relegates the team to fourth place in the AL East, 12 1/2 games back of the Yankees.

Jeanmar Gomez will make just his second major league start today for the Indians. The 22-year-old hurler's starting debut came back on June 18 when he pitched seven scoreless innings to beat the Tigers. Gomez's 5.20 ERA at the Triple-A level is far from impressive, but the Indians still have high hopes for the righty.

Toronto will counter Gomez with Jesse Litsch, who is 1-4 this season with a 5.48 ERA, numbers that can obviously stand some improvement. Litsch has pitched eight games so far this season and has permitted 47 hits and 13 walks in 42 2/3 innings. He did not figure in the decision against Detroit on Sunday after allowing two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of action.

Litsch faced Cleveland for the first time earlier this season and lost the game despite allowing two earned runs in six innings.

On Saturday, Shin-Soo Choo went 2-for-5 and hit the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning, as the Indians edged the Blue Jays, 2-1.

The victory snapped Cleveland's three-game slide and comes on a busy day for the Indians, who continued to make moves. Following their trade of Austin Kearns to the Yankees on Friday, they shipped Jake Westbrook to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade and dealt Kerry Wood to the Yankees on Saturday.

Westbrook was supposed to start Saturday's contest, but was scratched shortly before the game, and Josh Tomlin got the ball for his second major league start. Tomlin allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings, while Jensen Lewis (3-2) got the victory for pitching an inning of scoreless relief.

"I found out about it last night," Tomlin said of the trade. "I knew ahead of time it could be a possibility. It wasn't a for-sure deal, so I came in today ready to go just in case."

Cleveland has won five of its nine meetings with the Jays this season.

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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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