Brewers keep NL Central hopes alive against Houston

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers are in the thick of an NL Central race and will shoot for a series win over the Houston Astros tonight in the finale of a three-game series at Miller Park.

Milwaukee has won four of five and pulled within a half game of the Chicago Cubs for the Central lead after Tuesday's 5-3 victory. Rookie Ryan Braun went 2-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored to lead the way. Corey Hart and Geoff Jenkins each went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Brewers, who benefited from the Cubs' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night.

Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva, making just his second start of the season, allowed just one run on five hits over six innings for the win. He struck out six and walked two. Francisco Cordero recorded the final three outs for his 40th save of the season.

Cordero set a Brewers record for saves in a season, surpassing the previous mark of 39 that was shared by Dan Kolb (2004) and Derrick Turnbow (2005).

Yovani Gallardo gets the nod this evening for Milwaukee and the rookie is 6-4 with a 4.66 ERA in 15 games (12 starts). He is 2-1 in his last three outings and beat Pittsburgh on August 31, holding the Bucos to a pair of runs in seven innings of work.

The righty will make his first-career appearance versus Houston.

Meanwhile, the Astros have lost three of four games. Chris Burke went 3-for-5 with a solo homer and Hunter Pence ended 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored last night in the loss.

Houston starter Brandon Backe made his first start of the season and allowed four runs -- three earned -- on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings to suffer the loss. The right-hander had been out for the entire season with an elbow injury that required surgery last September.

Taking the hill for Houston on Wednesday will be Matt Albers, who is 4-6 with a 5.36 ERA over 26 games (13 starts) this season. Albers is 2-1 over his previous four trips to the hill, including an August 30 win over St. Louis.

Albers held the Cardinals to just one run and three hits in seven frames. He is 0-0 with a 2.57 earned run average in two career appearances (one start) against Milwaukee.

The Brewers own the Astros this season, having recorded a 10-4 mark so far in 2007. Milwaukee is 6-2 at Miller Park against Houston this season.

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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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