Billingsley tosses shutout as Dodgers avoid sweep

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey Blake hit a solo homer and drove in another run with a single to back Chad Billingsley's second career shutout, as the Los Angeles Dodgers snuck past the San Francisco Giants, 2-0, in a pitchers' duel.

Billingsley (8-5) gave up five hits, walked two batters and struck out three to record his first shutout since July 30, 2008 against these same Giants.

The Dodgers avoided a three-game sweep and snapped a six-game skid.

Barry Zito (8-5) allowed two runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings to suffer the hard-luck loss for the Giants, who went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven. Zito also fanned four and walked three in his first loss since June 23.

Wednesday's game had a much different feel compared to Tuesday's heated contest, which saw the Giants rally in the ninth for a 7-5 win. Three batters were hit by pitches in that game, leading to three ejections. Prior to Wednesday's game, Major League Baseball suspended Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw along with manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer. Kershaw was given a five-game suspension, while Torre and Schaefer got one-game bans.

Blake's homer inside the left foul pole in the second inning proved to be all the runs the Dodgers would need.

The Giants' inability to score with runners in scoring position started in the third. A pair of walks put runners on first and second with two outs, but Freddy Sanchez grounded into a fielder's choice to end the threat.

San Francisco got a leadoff double from Aubrey Huff during its next at-bat. Billingsley, though, retired the next three batters to keep the visitors off the board.

Nate Schierholtz hit a one-out double down the right-field line in the top of the fifth. However, Zito and Andres Torres grounded out to end the frame.

The Giants got a pair of singles in the top of the sixth to put men on first and second with one out. Billingsley, though, settled down once again to work out of the jam.

Zito retired 10 straight batters before giving up a two-out single to Matt Kemp in the bottom of the sixth.

San Francisco didn't advance a runner past first base the rest of the way.

Zito was replaced by Sergio Romo in the eighth after putting runners on first and second with one out. Romo struck out Kemp before Blake hit an RBI single.

Game Notes

The Dodgers lead the season series with the Giants, 6-3...San Francisco has still won 11 of its last 14 games...The Giants haven't swept the Dodgers in LA since April 24-26, 2007...Buster Posey of the Giants extended his hitting streak to 15 games...Torre served his suspension on Wednesday, as hitting coach Don Mattingly played the role of manager. Kershaw, who is appealing his suspension, intentionally threw at Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand in the seventh inning of Tuesday's game...Zito fell to 6-6 in 16 career starts against the Dodgers...Billingsley improved to 5-2 in 17 lifetime games (12 starts) versus the Giants.

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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.

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

Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.