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07/26/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins had everything working on Sunday as they pulled even closer to the top spot in the American League Central.
They'll try to continue that tonight behind Francisco Liriano, who seeks a third straight winning start in the opener of a three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The Twins took three of four from the lowly Baltimore Orioles, winning Sunday's finale 10-4 to get within one game of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Minnesota has won four of five overall.
Jason Kubel hit the seventh grand slam of his career and Delmon Young and Jim Thome added back-to-back homers in the sixth inning for Minnesota. Nick Punto posted three of the Twins' 19 hits on the day, which was plenty of offense for Kevin Slowey. The right-hander gave up just one run and five hits over six innings.
"They're kind of clicking at the right time," Thome said of the team's pitching and hitting. "Maybe we can get on a roll like that and get going. If we take care of our own business and focus every day on what we want to accomplish, hopefully we'll be where we want to be at the end."
The Twins won despite being without four regulars on Sunday. Second baseman Orlando Hudson sat out with a right oblique strain that forced him to the disabled list following the game, while center fielder Denard Span was out due to illness. Catcher Joe Mauer and shortstop J.J. Hardy also did not start, as manager Ron Gardenhire chose to rest the two.
Liriano should at least have Mauer and Hardy back in the lineup tonight as he seeks to improve on his 8-7 record and 3.54 earned run average on the season. He snapped a four-decision losing streak with 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball versus the White Sox on July 16, then hurled seven scoreless frames of six- hit, four-walk ball versus Cleveland on Wednesday. The left-hander struck out eight batters for a second start in a row as well.
The 26-year-old Liriano is 3-3 with a 4.84 ERA in nine career meetings versus the Royals, six of those starts. He faces them for the first time in 2010 tonight.
The Twins have gotten a pair of looks at tonight's starter for the Royals, Zack Greinke, and have posted eight earned runs over 10 innings in beating the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner both times. Kubel, Span and Michael Cuddyer are a combined 8-for-16 with a homer and nine RBI versus Greinke, who is 3-6 with a 4.32 ERA lifetime versus Minnesota.
The 26-year-old former first-round pick has won five of his last six decisions and bounced back from a loss to Oakland on July 16 with a victory over Toronto on Wednesday. Lasting at least seven innings for the sixth time in seven outings, Greinke notched eight innings of two-run ball versus the Blue Jays, yielding six hits without a walk while striking out nine.
Greinke, a right-hander, improved to 6-9 with a 3.59 ERA this year.
The Royals return home after losing three of four to the Yankees in the Bronx, dropping Sunday's finale, 12-6.
Kansas City's Scott Podsednik homered twice and matched a career high with four RBI, stretching his hitting streak to 12 games. Rick Ankiel added a homer for the Royals, who have lost 10 of their last 13.
Sean O'Sullivan, in his first start with Kansas City since being acquired by the franchise from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, yielded five runs over five innings of work, while the Royals' relief group was tagged for seven runs, six of those earned.
"When we were really going good, we were real successful in the back end of our bullpen down two, three runs," said Royals' manager Ned Yost. "The bullpen guys were coming in and holding and giving us an opportunity to get back in the game. That's been a problem for us lately."
The Twins have won six of nine versus the Royals this year and 14 of the last 18 meetings overall between the teams. Minnesota is also 16-5 at Kauffman Stadium since the start of the 2008 season.
<< Wounded Tigers kick off road trip versus Rays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers begin what could be a make-or-break
week-long road trip for the American League Central contenders tonight at
Tropicana Field, where the struggling and injury-plagued club takes on the
Tampa Bay Rays in a c
<< Blue Jays aim to extend series win streak over Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays may have had their share of trouble
against the top teams in the American League's East Division, but they sure
know how to handle the Baltimore Orioles.
The Blue Jays will be seeking to extend a nine
<< A-Rod tries again for milestone homer in Yanks' opener vs. Indians
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez's quest for his 600th career home run
resumes on the road this evening, when the superstar third baseman and his New
York Yankee teammates start up a seven-game trek with the first of four
consecutive meetings
<< Cubs hope Silva can bounce back versus Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Silva tries to bounce back from two miserable
outings this evening when the Chicago Cubs begin a three-game series against
the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Silva, who won his first eight decisions of the seas
Giants, Marlins ready for clash between scorching teams >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the hottest teams in baseball square off this
evening when the San Francisco Giants welcome the Florida Marlins to town for
the start of a four-game series at AT&T Park.
San Francisco has won four straight and 1
Re-loaded Angels to begin series with Red Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In danger of falling out of the race for the American
League West crown, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made a big and bold move
in acquiring ace pitcher Dan Haren on Sunday.
While it is unknown when Haren can contribut
Revs waive Videira >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution announced on
Monday that they have waived midfielder Michael Videira.
Videira signed with the Revolution in December 2008 after playing for six
months with Hamilton in
De Rosario setting bar high for young MLS talent >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a penchant for highlight-reel goals and
one of the most unique goal celebrations in the game, it's quite easy to see
why Dwayne De Rosario has become such a household name in Major League Soccer.
The Cana
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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.
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.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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