05/09/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of playoff hopefuls get together for a three-game series that begins this afternoon at Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first meeting between the teams since last year's National League Division Series.
The 2007 NL West champion Diamondbacks easily handled the Central-winning Cubs during that postseason skirmish, as Arizona swept the best-of-five series and clinched a berth into the NLCS with a 5-1 victory at Wrigley Field in Game 3. The Diamondbacks also won four of their six regular-season matchups with Chicago and are 16-6 against the Cubs (including last year's postseason) since the start of the 2005 campaign.
Arizona has played like a playoff team during the early portion of this season as well. The Diamondbacks own the best record in the majors at 23-12 and own a 3 1/2-game lead on Los Angeles for first place in the NL West at the moment.
The Diamondbacks hit the road after splitting a four-game series with Philadelphia at Chase Field earlier this week. Arizona evened the set behind Brandon Webb on Thursday, as the ace right-hander went the distance on a six- hitter to lead his club to an 8-3 decision over the Phillies.
Webb (8-0) surrendered three runs -- two earned -- and struck out four to win his eighth straight start to begin the season. The sinker specialist also won his first eight decisions in 2006, the year he captured the NL's Cy Young Award.
Chris Snyder went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in for the Diamondbacks, who also received home runs from both Justin Upton and Chris Young on the afternoon. Mark Reynolds ended 3-for-4 with an RBI in the win.
Chicago begins a 10-game homestand this afternoon and currently sits two games behind rival St. Louis for the top spot in the NL Central. The Cubs have dropped five of their last seven contests and were routed by the Cincinnati Reds in their most recent trip to the diamond.
In Wednesday's finale of a three-game series, the Reds belted seven home runs to back seven shutout innings from Edinson Volquez to hand Chicago a 9-0 setback at Great American Ball Park.
Joey Votto went deep three times for Cincinnati, while Volquez struck out 10 Cubs and yielded just four hits before turning the game over to his bullpen.
Jon Lieber (2-2) lasted just two innings in his first start of 2008. The veteran righty was shelled for five runs on seven hits, including four home runs, during his short stint.
The slumping Cubs face another tough challenge today in Arizona's Dan Haren, who has amassed an impressive 4-1 record and a 3.12 earned run average over his first seven starts as a D-Back.
Haren, acquired from Oakland in a blockbuster offseason trade, received a no- decision in his most recent outing despite pitching well enough to earn another win. The All-Star righty limited the New York Mets to two runs and three hits and matched a season-best with seven strikeouts over six innings this past Sunday.
The 27-year-old will be facing the Cubs for the first time since 2004, when Haren was a member of the Cardinals. In two lifetime starts against Chicago, one a loss and the other a no decision, he has been tagged for 12 runs and 16 hits over just 8 2/3 innings.
Chicago counters with Ted Lilly, who appears to have gotten himself back on track after a rough beginning to the season. The left-hander is 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA over his last three starts, compared to an 0-3 mark and a woeful 9.16 ERA during his first four mound trips of the year.
Lilly worked a season-high seven innings to defeat St. Louis on Saturday, holding the Cardinals to three runs on six hits and issuing just one walk.
The two-time 15-game winner is 0-2 in four career regular-season appearances against Arizona, including a pair of starts, despite having pitched to a respectable 3.38 ERA in those games. However, Lilly was shelled for six runs in just 3 1/3 innings by the Diamondbacks to suffer the loss in Game 2 of last year's NLDS.
<< A pair of aces to highlight Padres-Rockies opener
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A solid pitching matchup is on tap tonight at Petco Park,
where Jake Peavy will lead the San Diego Padres against Aaron Cook and the NL
West-rival Colorado Rockies.
Peavy is 4-1 with a 2.22 earned run average in seven
<< Reeling Brewers return home to face Central-leading Cards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers are back at home after a lengthy road
trip, and they will try to stop a six-game slide tonight in the first of four
straight games versus the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.
Milwaukee went 2-7 o
<< Marlins try to keep up season success against Nats
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NL East-leading Florida Marlins will try to extend
their current winning streak to a season-high five games tonight, when they
begin a seven-game road trip with the first of three straight meetings with
Washing
<< Braves take hot streak into Pittsburgh
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves will try to stay unbeaten this month as
they open a seven-game road trip with tonight's first of four straight games
against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
Atlanta is coming off a perfect six
O's try to continue dominance of KC >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles will attempt to maintain their
recent dominance of the Kansas City Royals when the two teams continue a four-
game series tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
Baltimore has now won 10 straight encounters wit
Red Sox make trip to Metrodome >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The defending world champion Boston Red Sox make their lone
regular-season visit to the Metrodome this weekend, when the American League
powerhouses start up a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins that begins
this evenin
Maggert's brother killed in CO plane crash >>
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Professional golfer Jeff Maggert's
brother was killed Thursday when a single-engine plane he was piloting crashed
in a mountainous area in Colorado.
The plane went down in a rugged, wooded area a
Golf Tidbits: Inkster's major streak to end >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There have been significant winning
streaks in golf over the years, and there have also been plenty of players who
have stressed family over golf. Occasionally the two intersect.
Consider the case of Juli
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
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LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at Sportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
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