Royals start homestand with Oakland in town

Baseball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams trying to climb into contention in the American League start up their post-All Star break schedules this evening at Kauffman Stadium, where the Kansas City Royals open up a six-game homestand with the first of three consecutive meetings with the Oakland Athletics.

Both clubs enter this series on the outside of the AL's playoff picture. The Athletics presently sit in third place in the West Division, eight games behind first-place Texas, while the Royals -- a team which hasn't reached the postseason since 1985 -- are 11 games in back of the Chicago White Sox in the race for the top spot in the AL Central.

Oakland will be heading into the second half carrying a bit of momentum after taking the final two tests of a three-game home set with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this past weekend. In Sunday's rubber match, All-Star selection Trevor Cahill delivered seven outstanding innings to win his ninth game of the year and lead the A's to a 5-2 triumph.

Cahill (9-3) limited the Angels to one unearned run and five hits to close out an excellent first half for the sophomore hurler. He received support from a two-run homer by Jack Cust, with Adam Rosales also knocking in a pair of runs for Oakland with a sixth-inning single.

Cust finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Kurt Suzuki went 3-for-3 with an RBI single for the Athletics, who had lost four in a row prior to a 15-1 shellacking of the Angels on Saturday.

"Sometimes things go bad in this game, but you have to keep on grinding away," said Suzuki after Sunday's victory. "We're not that far behind. We've got a lot of games left."

Cahill was not eligible to participate in the AL's 3-1 loss to the National League in the All-Star Game because he had started the first-half finale. Teammate Andrew Bailey, a late addition to the AL squad, did work one-third of an inning in Tuesday's Midsummer Classic and picked up a save by throwing a scoreless ninth in Sunday's victory.

Kansas City went into the break on a down note, suffering a three-game sweep by the resurgent White Sox in Chicago over the weekend. The team's pitching was hit hard in Sunday's finale, as the Sox belted five home runs and pounded out 18 total hits en route to a 15-5 rout.

Emergency starter Anthony Lerew (1-3) served up four of Chicago's homers and was rocked for eight runs and nine hits before exiting after only 2 2/3 innings. Relievers Dusty Hughes, Victor Marte and Kyle Farnsworth were each reached for two or more runs in the Royals' worst pitching performance of the season.

"It was just one of those days," manager Ned Yost told Kansas City's official site. "We got balls up and [the White Sox] hammered 'em. They've got good power and they're hot. Put that combination together in this ballpark where the ball flies anyway. When we got the ball up, they didn't miss it."

Jose Guillen went 2-for-3 for the Royals and hit his 15th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the top of the fourth.

Lerew was handed the start when Kansas City scratched ace Zack Greinke prior to the game because of mild discomfort in his throwing shoulder. The move was clearly precautionary, as the 2009 AL Cy Young Award recipient will get the call for the Royals in tonight's opener.

Greinke has been on a roll lately after a frustrating beginning to his 2010 season. After losing eight of his first nine decisions and often being plagued by a lack of offensive support, the standout right-hander has gone 4-0 with a 3.00 earned run average over his last five starts and has lasted at least seven innings in each of those games.

The 26-year-old was last in action on July 6, when Greinke yielded one unearned run and a mere two hits while striking out nine Seattle batters over seven innings to best the Mariners.

Greinke also won his only start against the A's during his Cy Young campaign of 2009, allowing three runs through seven innings last August at Kauffman Stadium, and sports a 4-0 record with a 2.88 ERA in 11 career encounters (seven starts) with Oakland.

Gio Gonzalez will oppose Greinke this evening and aims to build off a solid first 2 1/2 months of the season. The young left-hander produced a 7-6 record and a 3.79 ERA in 18 starts and has held opposing hitters to a .238 average at the plate.

Gonzalez did struggle his last time out, though, surrendering five runs and eight hits while issuing five walks in a four-inning loss to the New York Yankees on July 7. That put an end to an outstanding three-start stretch in which he permitted only two runs -- one earned -- over a span of 19 2/3 innings.

The 24-year-old is 0-1 with a subpar 7.71 ERA in two previous starts against the Royals. That one loss took place at Kauffman Stadium during September of 2008, with Gonzalez giving up four runs (three earned) and a pair of homers in just four innings.

Tonight's matchup marks the first meeting between these teams of 2010. Oakland won six of eight bouts with Kansas City last season, including two of three games held at Kauffman Stadium.

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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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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.