Cardinals to begin critical road trip with clash vs. Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off a much-needed series win, the playoff-hopeful St. Louis Cardinals know they still have a lot of work to do.

St. Louis continues that uphill battle this afternoon with the opener of a three-game series at Miller Park against a Milwaukee Brewers club that has given it some trouble this year.

The Cardinals went into a three-game weekend series with first-place Cincinnati on a five-game losing streak and eight games back of the top spot in the National League Central. The Cardinals did not fall any further behind after taking two of three in the set, with Sunday's 4-2 victory shaving a game off that deficit and pulling St. Louis to within 5 1/2 games of the NL Wild Card spot as well.

Matt Holliday blasted a three-run homer in the sixth inning for St. Louis and Chris Carpenter gave up just two runs over 7 1/3 innings while striking out a season-high 11 batters.

"When you can locate pitches, especially your fastball on both sides of the plate it makes your off-speed pitches that much better," Carpenter said. "If you locate those when you're ahead in the count, you're going to get strikeouts."

Jake Westbrook draws the starting assignment for the Cardinals as he faces the Brewers for the first time since June 17, 2006. Making his first-ever appearance against the club, the then-Indians hurler got a no-decision despite giving up just one unearned run over eight innings of work.

Westbrook picked up his first win with the Cardinals on Aug. 13 after getting dealt to the club from Cleveland, but has lost three straight starts since. He gave up three runs on nine hits over seven innings of a 3-0 setback in Houston on Monday, falling to 1-3 with a 4.03 earned run average in six starts with St. Louis and 7-10 with a 4.51 ERA in 27 starts total.

The Cardinals hope that a fresh face can get them on track versus the Brewers, who have won five of the last seven meetings between the teams to even the season series at six games apiece.

Today's starter for the Brewers, Yovani Gallardo, has never beaten the Cardinals, however, having gone 0-4 with a 6.32 ERA in six lifetime outings. He gave up six runs -- one earned -- over 2 2/3 innings the last time he faced St. Louis, back on July 4.

Gallardo left that outing early due to a side injury and did not pitch again until July 22, missing out on a chance to pitch in the All-Star Game. The 24- year-old righty has not been the same since that injury, as he is 3-3 with a 7.23 ERA in eight starts after notching a 2.58 ERA in 18 games prior to the ailment.

Gallardo has lost consecutive starts and has posted a 9.97 ERA over his last four outings. He lasted just five innings in Cincinnati on Tuesday, yielding eight runs on nine hits and three walks.

"There's not much I can do about it right now. There's still September," he told Milwaukee's website after falling to 11-7 with a 3.86 ERA on the season.

The Brewers halted a five-game losing streak with Sunday's 6-2 victory over the Phillies. Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer in the first inning to become the second player in club history to notch four straight 30-homer seasons. The other was Jeromy Burnitz from 1998-2001.

Rickie Weeks added three hits, scored once and drove in a run for the Brewers, who got 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball from Randy Wolf.

"It's nice to at least go home on a positive note," Brewers manager Ken Macha said.

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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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