NL West supremacy on line in San Diego

Baseball Betting Lines

09/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - First place in the National League West will be on the line as the top two teams in the division, San Francisco and San Diego, kick off an important four-game series tonight at Petco Park.

The Padres currently lead the division by two games over the Giants, and just swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games following a season-high 10-game losing streak. San Diego handed the Dodgers a 4-0 loss in Wednesday's series finale behind six shutout innings and seven strikeouts from Cory Luebke, who was making his second major league start.

Luis Durango had two hits, a stolen base and two RBI, while Adrian Gonzalez and Miguel Tejada each drove in a run to help the Padres improve to 3-3 on a 10-game homestand. San Diego is 41-29 at Petco Park this season.

"The baseball season is long. There are ebbs and flows. We hit a bump in the road, but our guys showed resolve and came back and have played sound baseball the last three games," said San Diego manager Bud Black.

Black hopes that Jon Garland can show some resolve when he takes the mound Thursday night. Garland has lost back-to-back starts since a personal three- game winning streak and lasted just 4 2/3 innings in Saturday's 6-2 loss versus Colorado. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- and struck out seven batters, falling to 13-10 in 28 starts this season.

Garland defeated the Giants back on April 21 with seven innings of one-run ball and is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in four career starts in this series.

San Francisco will try to get back in the win column tonight after having its four-game winning streak cut short with Wednesday's 3-1 loss at Arizona in the finale of a three-game set in the desert.

Barry Zito suffered the hard-luck loss for permitting two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts. Freddy Sanchez homered in the first inning to provide the scoring, and both Aubrey Huff and Jose Guillen ended with two hits apiece for the Giants, who can take over first place in the NL West with a solid showing against their division rivals. San Francisco is also two games behind Atlanta for the wild card lead.

"You have two teams trying to get there. They're playing well right now. They've had a good year," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "So it should be an exciting series. It's what you play for in September. Work hard in the spring, and you get to this point, this is what it's about."

The Giants are 4-2 on a 10-game road trip and will send Matt Cain to the hill tonight. Cain is 10-10 with a 3.18 earned run average in 28 starts this season and 1-0 over the past three trips to the mound. He has recorded consecutive no-decisions against the D'Backs and Dodgers, and previously toed the rubber in Saturday's 5-4 win in Los Angeles.

Cain was touched for four runs and seven hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and one walk. The righty has fanned at least six batters in three straight contests. Cain is 0-2 in three starts against San Diego in 2010 and 4-8 with a 3.12 ERA in 21 lifetime starts in this series.

San Diego has dominated the season series with the Giants by a 9-2 count, including a 4-1 ledger at Petco Park.

Wskybook Baseball Betting News

<< Brady involved in car accident
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was involved in a car accident Thursday morning in Boston. The Patriots confirmed the news on their Twitter feed and added that Brady was not hospitalized and was e

<< Serie A needs Milan to succeed
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In case you haven't noticed, Italian soccer is not exactly flourishing. Yes, the national team won the World Cup four years ago, and Serie A side Inter Milan became the first Italian team to win

<< Saints, Vikes kick off NFL season with championship-level rematch
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints will begin the first title defense in their 43-year history on Thursday night, when Drew Brees and company host Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL's 2010 lid-lifter from the Louisiana Supe

<< 2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 9th
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - QUARTERFINALS Russia vs. USA, 11 a.m. Lithuania vs. Argentina, 2 p.m.

<< Report: Brady involved in car accident
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was reportedly involved in a car accident Thursday morning in Boston. WEEI-AM cited sources as saying Brady was "shaken," but did not go to a hospital. The

Rockies go for sweep of Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Colorado Rockies look to sweep a four-game set from the Cincinnati Reds when the two teams collide tonight in the series finale from Coors Field. Colorado has won six straight overall and recorded a 9-2 victory

Cardinals start series in Atlanta >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When St. Louis and Atlanta last met in April, the Cardinals ran away with a four-game sweep at Busch Stadium. They will attempt to do that again in the first of four consecutive matchups tonight from Turner Field. The Card

Rangers, Blue Jays conclude set in Toronto >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Lewis tries to put the breaks on a personal seven- game losing streak this evening when the Texas Rangers conclude a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Lewis hasn't won since Jul

Tigers eye series win over White Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers try to play spoiler this afternoon and go for a series win when they wrap up a four-game set against the playoff hopeful Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. The White Sox won the first seven gam

Dodgers take losing streak into Houston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers try to avoid a season-high sixth consecutive loss this evening when they open a four-game series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. The Dodgers' playoff chances took a big hit th

Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

RSS Sports Betting Odds Feeds

Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.