Cain hopes to get Giants on track against San Diego
Baseball Betting Lines
04/04/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Young Matt Cain officially takes hold of the No. 2 starting slot in the San Francisco Giants rotation tonight when they host the San Diego Padres in game two of their three-game curtain-raising series at AT&T Park.
Cain, who won't turn 23 until October, was a first-round choice of the Giants - 25th overall - in the 2002 draft. He made his debut with seven late-season starts in 2005, then moved to the rotation full- time last year and was 13-12 with a 4.15 earned run average in 32 appearances - 31 starts. Cain also had 179 strikeouts and 157 hits allowed in 190 2/3 innings.
He's made five career starts against the Padres and is unbeaten, going 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA and just 15 hits allowed in 33 innings of work. The right- hander has also struck out 31 and walked 20 against San Diego.
Starting for the Padres will be towering right-hander Chris Young, who recorded his second straight double-digit win total last season and will try to give the Padres their first 2-0 start since their NL Championship season of 1998.
Young, a 6-foot-10, 260-pounder, went 12-7 with Texas in 2005 before heading to California and going 11-5 in 31 starts for San Diego last year. He also ranked sixth in the NL last season with a 3.46 ERA.
The 27-year-old Young has faced San Francisco twice in his career, going 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA over 12 2/3 innings pitched. He's allowed 12 hits and six earned runs while striking out 11 and walking three.
On Tuesday, Jake Peavy won the battle of the aces, tossing six scoreless innings to guide the Padres past Barry Zito and the Giants, 7-0. Jose Cruz Jr. finished with three RBI while Josh Bard went 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Zito (0-1) took the loss in his Giants debut, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on four hits over five frames.
Peavy (1-0), meanwhile, scattered three hits over his solid outing while striking out six for the Padres.
The Giants, who have not opened a year 0-2 since 1996, won 12 of their 19 matchups with the Padres last season, but are just 25-32 in the series since the start of the 2004 campaign.
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<< Washington Redskins 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington places little to no value on the draft, as
evidenced by the fact that it has one pick among the first 142 and has an NFL-
low five selections overall. Which isn't to say that the Redskins are without
needs, particu
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Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Pettitte's much anticipated return to the
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Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium has been postponed due to rain.
No makeup da
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Giants have two gaping holes to fill. One is at left tackle, where Luke Petitgout was released (and subsequently became a Buccaneer), and Bob Whitfield retired. Trouble is, the only two tackles with bona fide first-round
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season-opening three-game set against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
After signi
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White Sox aim to rebound against Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Garland hopes to give Chicago a better effort than
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Magic host Raptors at Amway Arena >>
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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.