Rockies to open homestand with last-place Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies are back home after a lengthy road trip and will open a three-game series tonight against the National League West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field.

Colorado went 5-4 on a nine-game road swing through Anaheim, Oakland and Los Angeles and dropped two of three matchups with the Dodgers, including Wednesday's 1-0 loss behind Rafael Furcal's pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning off Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Hammel pitched brilliantly, allowing only that one run on five hits with five strikeouts through eight innings.

"(Furcal) hit a good pitch," Hammel said. "You have to tip your hat to him -- their bullpen did a good job. It was a good game."

Brad Hawpe had two hits and Ian Stewart recorded the other one for Colorado, which is one game off the NL Wild Card lead and will kick off a 10-game homestand versus Arizona, Washington and Atlanta on Friday. The Rockies have won five straight and eight of their last nine games at Coors Field.

Jorge De La Rose will try to keep the home winning streak intact when he toes the rubber for Colorado tonight. De La Rosa has won two straight and four of his last five starts and is coming off an 11-9 victory at Oakland on Saturday. He held the Athletics to two runs and five hits in six innings, while striking out five batters and walking two.

De La Rosa improved to 4-7 in 15 2009 starts and lowered his earned run average from 5.85 to 5.64. The lefty, who is only 1-5 in seven home starts this season, will take on Arizona for the second time in 2009. De La Rosa was the hard-luck loser in an April 22 with the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, where he allowed just two runs over 6 2/3 frames of a 2-0 setback.

He is 1-2 with a 2.57 ERA through eight career appearances (4 starts) against the Diamondbacks.

Arizona has been playing poorly the past month and has lost two straight, seven of eight and 16 of the past 22 games. The D-Backs just lost the last two contests of a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, including Thursday's 3-2 defeat in 12 innings.

Mark Reynolds homered and Chad Tracy knocked in the other run for Arizona, which got a decent start from Doug Davis. The left-hander threw seven innings of one-run ball and gave up seven hits with five strikeouts and four walks in the no-decision. Clay Zavada was saddled with the loss for giving up an RBI single to Joey Votto in the bottom of the 10th inning.

"We didn't find a way to get the last piece," D-Backs manager A.J. Hinch said after the tough loss. "It's a bad feeling to not be able to win close games and we're playing a lot of them."

Max Scherzer will try to reverse Arizona's fortunes tonight on the Colorado mound. Scherzer was 3-0 in four starts before losing his latest outing on Sunday versus the Angels at Chase Field, where he yielded eight runs -- three earned -- on four hits in just 4 1/3 innings.

The righty fell to 5-5 in 15 starts this season and watched his ERA rise from 3.53 to 3.67. Scherzer lost his only appearance against Colorado on September 19 of last season at Coors Field, as he gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings of a 3-2 loss. He struck out eight and walked one batter.

The 2009 season series between Arizona and Colorado is tied at three games apiece, with all six games played in Phoenix. The D-Backs went 15-3 against the Rockies last season, including a 7-2 mark in Denver.

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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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