Twins aim to extend win streak versus Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- The Minnesota Twins will attempt to extend their current winning streak to four games when the American League Central front-runners take on a team they've had plenty of success against this season, the Kansas City Royals, this afternoon in a Labor Day matinee from Target Field.

The Twins head into the opener of this three-game series off an impressive home sweep of AL West-leading Texas over the weekend, taking all three matchups with the Rangers to continue their tremendous recent play at Target Field. In Sunday's finale, Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer both knocked in two runs and Minnesota staved off a late Texas rally to hold on for a 6-5 victory.

Twins starter Nick Blackburn did his part as well, yielding just two runs and six hits over the first seven innings to even his season record at 9-9. The right-hander had to sweat out the win, however, after the Rangers scored three times off relievers Jon Rauch and Matt Capps in the top of the ninth.

An RBI double by Julio Borbon and Cristian Guzman's run-scoring single off Capps in the ninth brought Texas within 6-4, and Michael Young followed with a two-out base hit before David Murphy walked to load the bases. Vladimir Guerrero then delivered an infield single to plate Guzman for a one-run game, but Young was called out for runner's interference on the play after making incidental contact with third-base coach Dave Anderson while rounding the bag.

The controversial call enabled the Twins to win for the 16th time in their last 19 games at Target Field, where the team has amassed an excellent 45-23 record for the season, and remain 3 1/2 games ahead of Chicago for first place in the AL Central. The White Sox swept a three-game set at Boston this past weekend.

"They're a really good team," Minnesota shortstop J.J. Hardy said of the Rangers. "These weren't easy games. Two of them were one-run ballgames. It was really nice to get out there and get that win [Sunday]."

Kansas City, on the other hand, is an unimpressive 26-42 on the road so far in 2010 and has lost eight of its past 12 overall. The non-contending Royals were able to halt a three-game skid, however, by edging Detroit by a 2-1 count Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

Alex Gordon's leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 1-1 deadlock and rewarded teammate and starting pitcher Kyle Davies (7-9), who worked the first six frames and surrendered just one run and three hits. The blast came on the first pitch Gordon saw from Tigers reliever Brad Thomas.

"Just be aggressive," Gordon said when asked of his approach during the at- bat. "That's what I did. I got my fastball to hit and I was able to do something with it."

Gil Meche and Robinson Tejeda protected the one-run lead with a scoreless inning of relief each, with closer Joakim Soria retiring the side in order in the ninth to register his 37th save of the season.

Soria hasn't had too many save opportunities when facing the Twins this season, however. Minnesota is 9-3 against the Royals in 2010 and has won four of six meetings with Kansas City held in Minneapolis as well. In the last series between these divisional foes, the Twins outscored the Royals by a 36-7 in taking all three tests from July 26-28.

Kevin Slowey, who'll be toeing the rubber for Minnesota this afternoon, has also fared well when facing the Royals in the past. The right-hander owns a 5-1 record with a 3.19 earned run average in seven career appearances (six starts) against today's opponent and tossed seven shutout innings of three-hit ball to defeat Kansas City at Target Field back on June 8.

Slowey will be making his first start since an August 21 home loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, having spent the past two-plus weeks on the disabled list with a strained triceps. He lasted only three innings in that outing and was reached for four runs on seven hits, two of which were homers.

Prior to that setback, Slowey had no-hit the Oakland Athletics through seven innings in an August 15 win, but was removed by manager Ron Gardenhire after exceeding his pitch limit.

Sean O'Sullivan gets the call for Kansas City today for his first-ever encounter with the Twins. The young right-hander, acquired in a trade with the Angels in late July, hasn't made a very good impression on his new club during his short stay in Kansas City

O'Sullivan is 1-4 with a bloated 6.59 ERA in eight games (seven starts) since the swap and allowed four or more runs in five of those assignments. He's also served up nine homers -- including three in a no-decision against Texas on Tuesday -- in a combined 41 innings pitched with the Royals.

The 23-year-old permitted six runs total in five innings versus the Rangers and is 1-3 with a 5.45 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance on the road this year.

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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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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.

There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.

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