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07/09/2008 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu's double in the 10th inning drove home Derek Jeter from first, giving the New York Yankees a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays and a sweep of a brief two-game set.
Sidney Ponson tossed six innings, allowing only five hits and one run with four strikeouts and two walks to get a no-decision in his third start for the Yankees. Mariano Rivera (4-3) threw two shutout innings of relief, fanning four, to get the win. Jeter scored both runs for New York, which won its fourth in a row.
Edwin Jackson scattered six hits and a run over 6 1/3 innings, with three strikeouts and two walks to pick up a no-decision. Grant Balfour (2-1) surrendered Abreu's double in the 10th to take the loss for Tampa. Carlos Pena's homer provided the lone run for the Rays, who have dropped three straight.
The Yankees had a chance to win it in the ninth. Jorge Posada drew a leadoff walk, and pinch-runner Justin Christian moved to second on a Robinson Cano sacrifice bunt, and then stole third with Melky Cabrera at the plate. Cabrera struck out, though, and Jose Molina popped out to send the game to extras.
Rivera, who worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to keep the Rays off the board, struck out two in a 1-2-3 10th. The Yankees didn't wait long to end it in the home half.
Jeter worked a one-out walk, and after fighting off a few pitches, Abreu laced a low changeup into the gap in right-center. The ball went all the way back to the wall, and Jeter easily scored from first to give the Yanks the win.
Jason Giambi's RBI single to center in the first gave New York an early 1-0 lead. The Rays knotted the game up on Pena's leadoff homer to center, his 14th of the season.
Game Notes
It was Giambi mustache day at the stadium, with 20,000 fake mustaches handed out to fans in support of the Yankees first baseman, who is one of the players up for the final spot on the AL All-Star team...Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, who is also up for the vote for the final All-Star spot, was named AL Rookie of the Month for June on Wednesday...Abreu's RBI double was his first walkoff hit as a Yankee...Christian's stolen base in the ninth was the first of his career.
<< Utah Blaze (WNBA)
Named Ron James head coach.
<< Hurricanes sign LaRose
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes signed forward Chad
LaRose to a one-year contract, the club announced Wednesday.
The deal will pay $875,000 for the upcoming season.
LaRose, 26, has spent all of his first three
<< Kings re-sign Udrih to multi-year deal
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sacramento Kings re-signed point
guard Beno Udrih Wednesday to a multi-year contract. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed.
Udrih signed with the Kings in November 2007, and averaged 12.8 p
<< Habs sign Gorges to three-year deal
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens signed
defenseman Josh Gorges to a three-year contract, the club announced Wednesday.
Terms of the deal were not released.
Gorges, 23, saw action in 62 games for Mon
Ron James named Utah Blaze head coach >>
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Blaze have named Ron James
as the new head coach, promoting him from his role as assistant coach. This
move comes in the wake of former head coach Danny White's resignation after
three s
Clipped: Brand leaves LA for Philly >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers introduced power
forward Elton Brand on Wednesday after inking the former Los Angeles Clipper
to a five-year contract reportedly worth about $82 million.
Brand opted out of th
Red Sox crush Twins to complete sweep >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Youkilis belted a two-run home run and
finished with three hits, four RBI and three runs scored to lead Boston over
Minnesota, 18-5, en route to sweeping the three game-set at Fenway Park.
Jacoby El
Verdasco, Berdych win; Safin exits Bastad >>
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco
and fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych notched wins, while Wimbledon
semifinalist Marat Safin of Russia suffered a second-round loss Wednesday at
the
The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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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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