Brewers resume series at Houston

Baseball Betting Lines

09/18/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers will try again to close the gap in the National League Central when they play the middle portion of a three-game series with the Houston Astros tonight at Minute Maid Park.

The Brewers posted a 6-0 victory over Houston on Monday, but remained a game behind the first-place Chicago Cubs, who bested the Reds yesterday.

Yovani Gallardo and Chris Spurling combined on the seven-hit shutout over the Astros yesterday, with Gallardo (9-4) extending his scoreless innings streak to 21 frames. He allowed seven hits and struck out five.

Corey Hart went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, while Kevin Mench added a solo homer in Milwaukee's third straight victory. Prince Fielder went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Ben Sheets will make his fifth start since returning from a right finger injury that landed him on the disabled list. He is 2-1 with a 6.00 earned run average in four starts since being activated and suffered a loss on Friday against the Reds. Sheets lasted just three innings, allowing five runs and six hits while falling to 12-5 with a 3.78 ERA this year.

It matched his shortest start of the season, as he also left an April 25 outing against Chicago after three innings, though that was because of a right groin strain.

The right-hander, who will try to set a new career high in wins tonight with 13, is 10-8 with a 3.74 ERA in 23 career starts against Houston. He got a no- decision when he started against the club on September 3.

Felipe Paulino made his major league debut against the Brewers in relief on September 5, and will now make his first ever major league start against them as well.

Paulino is taking the place in the rotation of 41-year-old right-hander Woody Williams, who is being moved to the bullpen so the Astros can get a look at some of their younger pitchers.

The right-hander was hammered for five runs and six hits in three innings of work against Milwaukee and didn't pitch again until Saturday against Pittsburgh, tossing a scoreless inning of relief.

Paulino, a product of the Astros Venezuelan Academy, went 6-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 22 games (21 starts) with Double-A Corpus Christi this season.

Josh Anderson had two of the seven hits on Monday for Houston, which had a two-game win streak halted and lost for the 11th time in 15 outings. Matt Albers (4-9 surrendered five runs, five hits, one walk and struck out three over 3 1/3 innings.

Milwaukee has won three in a row over Houston and is an outstanding 12-4 against the club this season. That includes five wins in seven games at Minute Maid Park.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.

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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