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08/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright owns a perfect mark at Busch Stadium this season. Now it's time for him to step up his road game when he takes the mound tonight in the opener of a three-game series against the Florida Marlins.
Wainwright is 11-0 through 12 starts in the Gateway City, but has just a 4-6 mark in 11 outings as the guest. He won his most recent trip to the hill last Sunday versus Pittsburgh, as he held the Pirates to one run in seven innings of a 9-1 drubbing. Wainwright improved to 15-6 in 23 overall starts and lowered his earned run average to 2.19. He's now trying to become the second 16-game winner in the major leagues, joining Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez (17 wins).
The right-hander beat Florida back on May 20 at Busch Stadium, hurling seven innings of two-run ball in a 4-2 St. Louis victory. Wainwright is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in seven career meetings (five starts) with the Marlins.
St. Louis could use some additional help on the mound, despite salvaging the finale of a three-game series versus Houston with Wednesday's 8-4 triumph behind co-ace Chris Carpenter. The righty lasted 7 1/3 innings and yielded a pair of runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
Albert Pujols went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and Felipe Lopez scored twice and drove in a run for the Cardinals. Allen Craig and Yadier Molina both had two hits and an RBI in the win.
"There are not to many ballclubs that can respond the way we did," Pujols said after the Cards remained a half-game behind Cincinnati for NL Central bragging rights. "Getting beat [Tuesday] night, 18-4. We scored four runs in the first inning and we scored three in the second inning. That is huge."
Florida ended July with three straight wins, but has dropped all four games in August. It was just swept in three games by the visiting Philadelphia Phillies and is coming off last night's 5-4 setback in 10 innings.
There was a controversial call in the ninth inning, when the Marlins' Gaby Sanchez ripped a hard ground ball down the third base line that was ruled foul by third base umpire Bob Davidson despite replays showing it bounced over the bag. Marlins All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez was on second base with one out and would have easily scored had the hit been called fair.
Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez shared his sentiments on what could have been the game-winning hit.
"I've been in this game for 30 years, and I have the highest respect for the umpires," Rodriguez said on the team's site. "That was the worst call I've ever seen in my 30 years in baseball. That ball was a fair ball by six inches. He was never even looking at the play."
Sanchez finished with two RBI while Logan Morrison and Donnie Murphy each knocked in a run for the Marlins, who are nine games off the pace in the NL East.
Chris Volstad started for Florida and did not record a decision after he yielded two runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. Will Ohman was saddled with the loss for surrendering Carlos Ruiz's home run to lead off the top of the 10th inning.
The Marlins, who are mired in their longest skid of the season, will look to Ricky Nolasco tonight against St. Louis. Nolasco has been on fire as of late, having won three straight and seven of his last eight starts. In Saturday's 6-3 win at San Diego, Nolasco held the division-leading Padres to three runs in 8 1/3 innings and posted seven strikeouts for the second straight outing. He has fanned at least six batters in eight straight starts.
Nolasco, a right-hander, is 12-7 in 22 starts to go along with a 4.28 earned run average this season. He is still in search of his first career win against the Cardinals, having gone 0-2 in five career games (four starts) in this series.
The Marlins and Cardinals split a two-game series back in May, but St. Louis has won four of the past seven meetings between the two clubs.
<< First meets worst as Padres, D-Backs begin divisional set
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have a favorable road matchup this
weekend against the NL West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks, but the desert hasn't
been too kind lately for the current division leaders.
The Padres, who are two games ahe
<< Angels pay a visit to Tigers in Motown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Detroit
Tigers are fading in their respective division-title races. Good news is that
one club has to win tonight when the two teams kick off a three-game series at
Comeric
<< O's hope to continue success under new manager vs. White Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles passed their first test under new
manager Buck Showalter with flying colors. Their next challenge figures to be
a little bit tougher, however, with the American League Central-leading
Chicago White Sox i
<< Surging Phils put home streak on line against Mets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time the Philadelphia Phillies squared off against
the despised New York Mets more than two months ago, they didn't score a run
over the three-game road series.
The two National League East inhabitants will do bus
Rays seek to carry over home success in road test with Blue Jays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays ended their longest homestand of the
season closer to first place in the competitive American League East Division.
They'll continue their quest to get to the top spot when they begin a six-game
road trip w
Zito, Giants resume series in Atlanta >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A lack of offense has the Giants in danger of dropping
three straight games for the first time in a month. Things might not get
better with Barry Zito on the hill.
Zito will try to avoid a third straight los
Lee aims to get on track as Rangers visit Athletics >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Lee tries to avoid his first losing streak of the
season this evening when the Texas Rangers start a three-game series with the
Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.
Lee hasn't lost back-to-back starts all season, but e
Royals hand ball to Greinke in Seattle >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zack Greinke tries to continue his mastery of the Seattle
Mariners this evening when the Kansas City Royals open a three-game set
against them at Safeco Field.
Things haven't gone as planned for last year's Ameri
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.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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