Tigers' Robertson gets shot at ending ChiSox' streak

Baseball Betting Lines

04/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox attempt to continue their best stretch of the young season when the streaking club plays the second of three consecutive games with the rival Detroit Tigers this afternoon at Comerica Park.

Chicago has won a season-best three straight contests, a roll which began with Mark Buehrle's no-hitter against Texas on Wednesday. The White Sox kept the streak going with a come-from-behind victory in Friday's series opener, with Darin Erstad singling home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to lift Chicago to a 5-4 decision over the Tigers.

The White Sox trailed 4-2 after five innings of play but drew even on Paul Konerko's two-run single off Detroit reliever Jason Grilli. Juan Uribe and Tadahito Iguchi added solo home runs in the triumph.

Reliever Nick Masset (1-0) threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings to get his first major league win, while Bobby Jenks notched his fifth save by striking out Gary Sheffield with a man at third to end the game.

Grilli (0-1) was dealt the loss after yielding three hits and a run over 1 2/3 frames.

Carlos Guillen had two hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Tigers, who have lost back-to-back games for the first time this year. Brandon Inge homered in a losing cause.

Detroit will try to get back on track today behind Nate Robertson, who takes the mound in search of a third consecutive quality start. The gritty left- hander won his first two outings of the season but was a hard-luck loser in his last appearance, which came last Sunday in Toronto. Robertson held the Blue Jays to two runs over seven innings but came out on the short end of a 2-1 decision.

Prior to that start, Robertson threw 7 1/3 shutout innings to defeat Baltimore on April 10. He yielded just four hits and one walk while striking out five.

The 29-year-old had his troubles when facing the White Sox last season, however. In four starts against Chicago in 2006, Robertson went 0-3 and produced a subpar 6.75 earned run average over 26 2/3 innings.

For his career Robertson is 4-6 with a 5.08 ERA in 14 starts versus the White Sox.

Jose Contreras, who will start today for Chicago, has also put together back- to-back good efforts after a forgettable performance at Cleveland on Opening Day. The Cuban defector rebounded with six innings of one-run ball to defeat Oakland on April 9, then gave up just two unearned runs in a five-inning stint against the Indians on Sunday. Contreras wound up taking the loss, however, in the White Sox' 2-1 setback.

The veteran right-hander surrendered only one hit in his most recent start, but did issue five walks and threw just 56 of 101 pitches for strikes.

Contreras does bring an 8-4 career record with a 3.46 ERA in 16 previous matchups with Detroit and is 4-3 with a 3.35 ERA in eight lifetime starts at Comerica Park.

Chicago won 12 of 19 meetings between the rivals last season and is 27-12 against the Tigers since the start of the 2005 campaign. The White Sox have gone 14-6 in Detroit over that span.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.