Buehrle, ChiSox stop Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/02/2009 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Buehrle took a shutout into the ninth inning, as the Chicago White Sox extended their season-high win streak to six games with a 4-1 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Buehrle (8-2) allowed a run on six hits, walked none and struck out one in 8 1/3 frames. He did not give up the run until the ninth, when Bobby Jenks entered to get the final two outs, in addition to his 19th save this season.

Jayson Nix had two hits, including a homer, while Jim Thome went 2-for-4 and scored once to help the White Sox take the opener of the four-game series.

Bruce Chen (0-2) got his second start of the season for the Royals and for the second time took the loss, despite a solid outing. He surrendered two runs on five hits in six-plus innings, with one walk and five strikeouts.

David DeJesus doubled and drove in the lone run for Kansas City, which has lost three in a row and six of eight.

Nix homered to left to lead off the fourth, getting Chicago on the scoreboard, and the White Sox held on to the lead thanks to Buehrle. The left-hander benefited from inning-ending double plays in the first, second and fifth innings to move the game along and keep his pitch count low.

Also, Buehrle was perfect in the fourth and sixth, and Chicago added another run in the seventh. Thome led off with a double and Paul Konerko followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Chen was lifted in favor of Ron Mahay who got A.J. Pierzynski to ground into a double play. Thome scored on the play to make it a 2-0 game.

Buehrle worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, and the White Sox went up 3-0 in the eighth. Scott Podsednik's single plated Brian Anderson, who reached on a walk and went to second on a wild pitch.

After Buehrle again was perfect in the home eighth, Josh Fields scored on Gordon Beckham's RBI groundout in the top of the ninth to push Chicago's lead to four.

Buehrle ran into trouble in trying to complete the shutout, as Alberto Callaspo opened the bottom of the ninth with a double. Callaspo scored two batters later, when DeJesus doubled. Buehrle was taken out for Jenks, who got the next two batters out to end the game.

Game Notes

Chicago's previous season-high win streak was four games (May 29-June 1)...Mark Teahen had two hits for the Royals...Konerko had two hits for the White Sox...Chicago has won 13 of its last 17 overall, and 12 of its last 15 as the visitor.

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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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