Giants, Posey aim to keep rolling in finale with Marlins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buster Posey tries to match a San Francisco rookie record by hitting in his 22nd straight game this afternoon, while fellow rookie Madison Bumgarner shoots for a fifth straight win when the San Francisco Giants complete a four-game series with the Florida Marlins at AT&T Park.

Posey's streak, which is the longest in the National League this season, is one short of Willie McCovey's 22-game tear for San Francisco in 1959. It is also the seventh of 20 or more games in San Francisco history.

Jack Clark holds the San Francisco club record by hitting in 26 straight in 1978.

Posey went 1-for-4 on Wednesday, but Andres Torre's bases-loaded single in the 10th inning capped a four-hit day and propelled the Giants to a 10-9 win. Torres added a two-run homer and Juan Uribe had three hits and drove in four runs for San Francisco, which has won six of its last seven games but blew a 9-2 lead after six innings in this one.

"Guys were just grinding out at-bats, pitchers are giving everything they got, attacking the zone," Posey said. "I think guys believe that we're going to win. That's the biggest thing."

Posey's streak tied Kansas City's Jose Guillen, who had a 21-game streak earlier this season, as the second-longest of 2010 and now is two back of Texas' Josh Hamilton's season-long 23-game streak.

"It's cool, it's fun," Posey said afterward. "But it's hard to talk about myself when we just won a great game.'

Florida's Dan Uggla homered for the sixth time in as many games and tied the contest with an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning. He has 143 homers for his career, tying the Marlins team record set by Mike Lowell. Pinch-hitter Donnie Murphy added a three-run homer and Ronny Paulino clubbed a solo shot for the Marlins.

"It's tough, coming back all the way from 9-2 and losing," Murphy said. "I'd almost lose 9-2 than to come back that much and lose. I'm really happy with the way we came back and the effort we put into it."

Bumgarner, meanwhile, won his fourth straight start on Saturday in Arizona, holding the Diamondbacks to two runs and five hits in seven innings to up his season record to 4-2 to go along with a 2.43 ERA. This will be his first start against the Marlins.

Florida will counter with righty Anibal Sanchez, who is 7-6 with a 3.59 ERA. Sanchez did not get a decision on Saturday against Atlanta, as he allowed two runs and five hits in six innings of a 10-5 loss.

Sanchez did not get a decision against San Francisco earlier in the year in his only other appearance against the Giants.

San Francisco swept a three-game set from the Marlins from May 4-6 and has won seven of the last nine meetings in the series.

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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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