Last place teams continue set in Cleveland

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The cellar dwellers from the AL Central and AL West will collide once again this evening when the Cleveland Indians host the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field.

Toeing the rubber this evening for Oakland will be Vin Mazzaro, who is winless in his last four starts. The last time the New Jersey native was on the bump he surrendered three runs on five hits in five innings of work. He walked four batters, but also struck out eight.

Surprisingly, in three road starts this year the right-hander is 1-1 with a solid 2.45 earned run average. This will be Mazzaro's first career outing against Cleveland.

As for the Indians, they will turn to Carl Pavano, who is also mired in a personal slump, losing three of his last four starts. The last time the right-hander was on the hill he tossed seven strong innings against Chicago, but still suffered the defeat. Pavano allowed just two runs in the contest and struck out six batters, while walking none.

This will be the second-ever start for Pavano against Oakland. In his lone showdown with the A's he tossed seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks. It was a solid performance, but he did not factor in the decision.

On Friday, Shin-Soo Choo went 4-for-5 with two homers, a career-high seven runs batted in and scored four times, as the Indians crushed the Athletics, 15-3.

"[Choo's] a real good all-around ballplayer. Whether on the bases, in the outfield or home plate, he's hungry to learn. He takes a lot of pride in his game, and he obviously has a lot of ability on top of that," Indians manger Eric Wedge said.

Travis Hafner belted a solo shot and walked twice, while Asdrubal Cabrera had a pair of doubles and three RBI for Cleveland, which snapped a five-game slide, but have only three wins in its last 16 games.

David Huff (4-3) picked up the win after working six innings. The rookie left- hander allowed eight hits and three runs, struck out four and walked one, and has won four of his last five starts.

Nomar Garciaparra had two hits, including a double and an RBI for the Athletics, who have dropped seven of nine.

Trevor Cahill (5-7) was pinned with the loss after getting raked for eight runs -- five earned -- on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked four and struck out two.

"[Cahill] didn't throw enough strikes. He was behind in the count way too much," A's manager Bob Geren said. "He has not been in the [strike] zone as much as he needs to be."

The Tribe took five of nine meetings with Oakland last season, including a 4-2 mark as the host. Cleveland has won 10 of the last 14 matchups versus the Athletics at home.

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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.

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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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