Rangers ink Cruz to two-year deal
Baseball Betting Lines
02/09/2012 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers have agreed to a two-year contract with outfielder Nelson Cruz, the team announced on Thursday.
The 31-year-old Cruz batted .263 with 29 home runs and a career-best 87 runs batted in during 124 regular-season games in 2011. In 17 postseason contests during the Rangers' pennant run, he logged a .226 average with eight homers and 16 RBI.
The bulk of Cruz's 2011 playoff output came during the American League Championship Series, during which he posted MLB records for most home runs (6) and RBI (13) in a postseason series. Not surprisingly, he was crowned ALCS Most Valuable Player for his efforts.
Cruz, who has played six of his seven major league seasons with the Rangers, has a .270 batting average with 106 home runs and 323 RBI over 536 career games.
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets announced Thursday that guard Keith Bogans has been diagnosed with a complete tear of the deltoid ligament as well as a fractured left ankle. Bogans, who signed with the Nets on
<< Lamar to visit Hawaii as part of 12-game schedule
Beaumont, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lamar University football will visit the
University of Hawaii as part of a 12-game schedule announced Thursday.
Football Championship Subdivision teams usually play a maximum of 11 games,
but the Cardinals are
<< Gonzalez will retire next month
Santiago, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chilean star Fernando Gonzalez says he
expects to retire from the ATP World Tour next month.
The former Australian Open runner-up, who has been plagued by hip, knee and
back injuries over the las
<< Lafayette-Lehigh to play 150 in NYC?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - As if the 150th meeting between the
Lafayette and Lehigh football teams wasn't special enough ...
How about an extra special venue?
The Express-Times of Easton, Pa., reported Thursday about the concept o
<< Houston acquires Kandji from Colorado
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo have acquired forward
Macoumba Kandji from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a conditional draft
pick.
Kandji, 26, has played 57 regular season matches over five seasons in MLS. H
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will get France going Friday in its opening-round Davis Cup tie against host Canada. The world No. 6 Tsonga will meet Vasek Pospisil in the first singles
Bartoli lands in Paris quarters >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French crowd favorite Marion Bartoli was an
easy second-round winner Thursday in Paris.
The second-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up handled Croat Petra Martic 7-5,
6-1 on Day 3 at the Open GDF Suez.
B
Ten-man Lazio rallies to defeat Cesena >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lazio, which had a player sent off 34 minutes
into the match, rallied from two goals down Thursday for a 3-2 win over Cesena
in Serie A action at the Stadio Olimpico.
Abdoulay Konko was sent off after the hal
Royals, Gordon agree to one-year deal >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms
on a one-year contract with outfielder Alex Gordon, the team announced
Thursday.
Gordon notched career-highs in batting average (.303), runs batted in
RSL re-signs four, including Espindola, Grabavoy >>
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake re-signed four players Thursday,
including forward Fabian Espindola and midfielder Ned Grabavoy.
Espindola and Grabavoy combined to make 52 appearances, including 46 starts,
last season for Rea
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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