Abreu homers twice in Angels' win over O's
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu hit a pair of homers, accounting for four runs batted in, and John Lackey threw eight strong innings, as the Angels beat Baltimore, 5-2, in the opener of a four-game series.
Chone Figgins had three hits and drove in the other run for Los Angeles, which began a 10-game homestand on the right foot, snapping a two-game skid while winning for the seventh time in nine contests.
Lackey (3-3) had seven strikeouts while giving up four hits and two runs, moving to 7-3 lifetime against the Orioles. Brian Fuentes tossed the ninth inning for his major league-leading 23rd save.
"I established the fastball pretty good tonight," said Lackey. "I mixed my pitches well and located my fastball."
Jeremy Guthrie (6-8) surrendered nine hits and five runs over seven innings to have a personal two-game win streak broken.
Luke Scott homered for the Orioles, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Abreu homered to right field leading off the fourth inning, but the Orioles tied it in the next inning, when Matt Wieters singled in Nolan Reimold with one out. Baltimore, though, wasted a chance with runners at the corners, as Robert Andino and Brian Roberts each struck out.
Los Angeles exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take command. Maicer Izturis led off with a triple, and Mike Napoli walked. One out later, Figgins blooped an RBI single to left-center. Abreu then jumped all over an 0-2 offering for his sixth homer of the year, a shot barely over the wall in right field.
"My game is a line-drive hitter," said Abreu. "I try not to force it. When the homers come, they're welcome."
Scott homered to center with one out in the seventh, but Aubrey Huff's single in the ninth represented Baltimore's only hit over the final two innings.
"There wasn't much to hit," said Scott. "I actually hit a good pitch. I got lucky, but he (Lackey) mixed up his pitches and he was on his game."
Game Notes
It was Abreu's 14th career multi-homer game and first this season...The Angels are 8-3 in their last 11 home games and have won 14 of 19 overall...Abreu upped his total to 48 RBI this season... The O's are just 4-13 in Anaheim since the start of the 2006 campaign.
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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
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*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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