Red Sox heavy favorites

Although the World Series does not attract as many “special event” wagers as the Super Bowl, it does create more betting action than normal for baseball.

And early money has been heavily behind Boston, which is listed as a 2-1 favorite to defeat Colorado for this year’s championship.

The support for the Red Sox was so strong that Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened with Boston at -200 Sunday but the number climbed to as high as -230 by Monday morning.

But it should be noted that favorites have not exactly been a sure bet for the Fall Classic in recent years.

Since the New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets to win the title in 2000, underdogs have won four of the last six World Series, including last year, when St. Louis upset Detroit in five games.

If the Rockies, at +180 to win the Series, follow this trend, it definitely would have an impact in Las Vegas.

Before the season began, Colorado was listed at 75-1 on future bets to win this year’s World Series and after a slow start, the Rockies were getting as high as 300-1 on some boards.

Colorado won the National League pennant by winning 21 of its last 22 games but not many people give the Rockies much of a chance against Boston pitcher Josh Beckett tonight in Game 1.

Beckett, 2-0 with a 1.20 earned-run average in Fenway Park this postseason, has dominated batters and is the main reason why the Red Sox are -210 for tonight’s game.

Colorado, which is at +190 to +195, will start ace Jeff Francis and is 11-1 in its last 12 games as a road underdog.

College football

News flash: Oregon is listed as a three-point favorite over USC Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

Although the last time the Trojans were underdogs wasn’t too long ago (last season’s Rose Bowl, when Michigan was a 1- to 1 1/2 -point favorite), but as BobJoeJim of twoplustwo.com points out, it has been some time since they were underdogs against a Pacific 10 Conference team.

On Nov. 11, 2001, UCLA was favored by three points over USC. That was the last time the Trojans were underdogs in a conference game and they won, 27-0.

The last time USC was an underdog in a regular-season game was Aug. 23, 2003, when Auburn was favored by four. The Trojans won, 23-0.

The last time the Trojans were underdogs and lost? Sept. 21, 2002 when Kansas State was a 2 1/2 -point favorite and won, 27-20.

lonnie.white@latimes.com