Jimenez hopes to bring Rockies' skid to a close in finale with Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suddenly slumping right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez has a few positives going for him today when he gets the call for the Colorado Rockies in the third and final game of their series with the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field.

First, the 26-year-old is unbeaten in eight starts this season on home turf in Denver, going 6-0 with a 3.52 earned run average across 53 2/3 innings of work. Second, he's never lost to the Pirates in four career starts, going 2-0 while holding Pittsburgh batters to just 18 hits while striking out 21 in 28 innings.

Still, the season's dominant first-half phenom has struggled along with his team of late, going winless in two post All-Star Game starts while lasting just 7 1/3 combined innings and allowing nine hits and 12 runs with nine walks.

He retired only six batters in a 10-2 loss at Philadelphia in his last start five days ago, walking six and striking out two. It was his first loss since May 9.

Pittsburgh counters with 28-year-old lefty Paul Maholm, who's alternated wins and losses in his last five decisions.

The Mississippi native fell to 4-6 on the season with a 13-3 loss at Texas on June 23, then bounced back with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on June 28 at Wrigley Field.

He lost, 12-4, to Philadelphia on July 3, then split a pair of post-break starts with a complete-game win over Houston on July 18 and a 5-3 loss to San Diego on July 23.

Maholm, who's making the 148th start of his career, is just 1-4 against Colorado in six outings with a 5.20 ERA.

He is 2-2 on the road this season.

On Wednesday, Garrett Jones homered twice as part of a four-hit night and drove in three runs as the Pirates overcame an early injury to pitcher Ross Ohlendorf to win, 6-2.

Neil Walker added a two-run single as Pittsburgh posted back-to-back road wins for the first time since May 14-15 against the Cubs.

Ohlendorf was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki in the first inning. With a runner at third and two outs, Tulowitzki lined a ball off the side of Ohlendorf's head and the ball bounced into right field. Carlos Gonzalez scored on the play for a 1-0 Colorado lead.

Ohlendorf went to a local hospital, but a CT scan came up negative and he was diagnosed with a contusion and abrasion.

Sean Gallagher (1-0) fanned four batters over three innings to get the win.

Aaron Cook (4-7) allowed six hits and five runs over 2 1/3 innings to drop his second straight start.

Gonazlez homered for the Rockies, who have lost eight in a row, their longest skid since dropping eight straight from June 22-30, 2008.

Colorado won six of nine matchups with the Pirates last year and has dominated this series at home over the past two seasons, having gone 9-3 against Pittsburgh at Coors Field since 2008.

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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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