Cards seek to gain further ground on first-place Reds

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Wainwright tries once again to become the National League's first 18-game winner when the St. Louis Cardinals continue their three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds today at Busch Stadium.

Like his team, Wainwright has hit the skids as of late, losing three straight starts for the first time in his career while allowing 11 runs in 19 innings of those outings to raise his earned run average to a still-impressive 2.30.

Wainwright's last loss came in Washington on Sunday, as he allowed four runs and six hits in five innings to fall to 17-9 on the year.

"It definitely stings more when you know your team needs wins and you pitch like that," Wainwright said after that game. "I'm pretty ticked about that. I try to be the stopper, not the guy that continues the losing."

Wainwright's last win came at the expense of the Reds back on August 11, when he tossed seven scoreless innings. He is 3-3 lifetime against them with a 4.01 ERA in 12 games, seven of which have been starts.

The 29-year-old right-hander has been dominant at home this season, having posted an 11-1 mark with a 1.42 ERA in 13 starts.

St. Louis picked up a game on the NL Central-leading Reds in the opener of this set on Friday, as Jaime Garcia kept an unbeaten streak against Cincinnati intact with 6 2/3 effective innings and Jon Jay set the tone with a first- inning RBI triple and run scored in the Cardinals' 3-2 win.

Garcia (13-6) won his fourth start in as many tries versus the Reds this season by limiting surging Cincinnati to six hits and two runs while striking out six.

"It's a big win for us, no matter who we were playing," Garcia said. "I see it now a little bit different, that it's a big win against them. But before the game I was just trying to treat it like any team. Just go out there and don't try to do too much."

Ryan Franklin picked up his 23rd save with a spotless ninth to give the Cardinals their fifth straight win against the Reds. Skip Schumaker collected two hits and an RBI in the much-needed win that snapped St. Louis' season-high five-game skid.

The last time these two teams met the Cardinals earned a three-game sweep that gave them sole possession of first place in the division. Since then Cincinnati had won 14 of 18 while the Cards went 5-13 prior to Friday's result, which cut the Reds' lead in the division to seven games.

Bronson Arroyo (14-9) suffered the loss for giving up three runs and six hits in six innings. Paul Janish provided a solo home run in the loss that stunted the Reds' four-game win streak.

"There's not as much pressure, but tonight would have taken a lot of pressure off of us if we had got one tonight," said Arroyo after the game. "Now we know we have to grind it now just to get one [win]. We've got the two best pitchers in the National League going [against us] the next two days. Tonight was huge. We've got two games left, anything can happen."

Cincinnati will turn to rookie left-hander Travis Wood, who is 4-2 with a 3.53 ERA, for today's contest. Wood did not get a decision on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, as he allowed three runs and 10 hits in five innings of his team's 7-5 win.

Wood has never faced the Cards.

The Cardinals have won 11 of 16 games versus the Reds this year.

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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.

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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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