Red Sox, Rangers continue key series in Texas

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a thrilling come-from-behind extra-inning extravaganza, the Texas Rangers will try to kick the Boston Red Sox while they are down when the two teams do battle again this evening in the middle matchup of a three-game set at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington.

In last night's opener, Nelson Cruz hit Tim Wakefield's first pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning over the wall in left field, giving the Rangers an incredible 10-9 win over the Red Sox.

Although Cruz hit the winning homer, Josh Hamilton was the star for the Rangers, as he went 4-for-5 with a homer, scored four times and made three great catches in the outfield. That included robbing Jed Lowrie of a possible home run in the sixth inning.

Playing their first game since Major League Baseball's approval of the sale of the franchise from Tom Hicks to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan, the Rangers gave their new ownership group plenty of cheer. They rallied from an 8-2 deficit and finished with 17 hits, including home runs from Michael Young and Mitch Moreland.

The opener of this series proved to be a hitting barrage, with the Red Sox clubbing five homers -- including two from J.D. Drew. Lowrie, David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre also went deep, but Boston dropped its second in a row.

Both starters didn't last long. Josh Beckett gave up 10 hits and six runs over five innings for Boston, while Texas' Tommy Hunter allowed six hits, including consecutive homers to Ortiz, Beltre and Drew to start Boston's seven-run fourth inning. He was replaced after Drew's 15th blast of the season.

The gritty play of the AL West-leading Rangers helped them to tie the game in the eighth. Down 9-8, Hamilton doubled to right field with two outs. Vladimir Guerrero then hit a roller up the middle, and the throw to first base was barely late as he slid in head-first and was safe. Hamilton chugged around third and barely made it home as the throw from first baseman Mike Lowell was a tad late.

Darren O'Day (4-2) pitched the 11th inning to get the win and stretched his club-record scoreless appearance streak to 29 games. He has worked 26 1/3 straight shutout frames and hasn't been scored upon since June 1 against the White Sox.

Wakefield (3-9) had his first pitch -- a knuckleball -- crushed by Cruz, who ended with two RBI on the night. It was his 16th homer of the season.

Tonight the Red Sox will look for revenge and have the perfect player on the mound to help out with that task in Jon Lester. The southpaw snapped a personal four-game slide the last time he took the hill, as he led the Red Sox to a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees on Monday.

In the victory Lester tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Bronx Bombers while scattering just four hits and striking out six batters.

Earlier this season the Rangers scored four runs -- three earned -- against the hard throwing lefty. In that meeting, which was a loss for Lester, the Red Sox hurler scattered nine hits in eight innings and struck out six batters.

In his career against Texas, Lester is 2-1 with a 3.51 earned run average in six starts.

The Rangers will counter with Colby Lewis, who is looking for his first win since July 16. The last time right-hander was on the bump he battled hard against the Athletics on Sunday, holding Oakland to just one run on three hits in six innings. While on the mound Lewis walked three, but also struck out seven.

The veteran hurler has pitched well in Arlington this season, posting a 5-2 ledger with a 3.14 earned run average in nine starts.

Oddly enough the last win for Lewis came against Boston, as he helped the Rangers to an 8-4 victory on July 16. In the win, Lewis surrendered three runs on four hits in just five innings, but also struck out seven batters.

The Rangers have won five of eight over the Red Sox this year and were victorious in five of six meetings at home last season over Boston.

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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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