Blake powers Indians past Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

06/03/2008 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey Blake tied career highs with two home runs and seven runs batted in, as he helped the Cleveland Indians win a slugfest, 13-9, over Texas in the opener of a four-game set.

Blake finished with three hits, while Ben Francisco went 2-for-5 with a two- run homer and David Dellucci added two hits and a two-run blast of his own. Jhonny Peralta also had three hits, including a double, for the Indians, who snapped a two-game losing streak and had scored 13 runs in their past four games combined.

Starter Aaron Laffey lasted five innings and gave up eight runs on 11 hits for Cleveland, which lost two of three to Texas in late May. Masa Kobayashi (3-2) picked up the win by throwing 1 2/3 frames and allowing just one run.

Josh Hamilton slugged a two-run homer, while Marlon Byrd added a grand slam for the Rangers, who put together 15 hits but lost their second consecutive game. Ian Kinsler and Michael Young each added three hits for Texas.

Doug Mathis struggled in his start for the Rangers, as he also gave up eight runs, on 12 hits in just 3 2/3 innings. But Eddie Guardado (0-1) took the loss after surrendering one run in the seventh inning.

After the Rangers trimmed their deficit to a run late in the game, Dellucci gave Cleveland some breathing room in the eighth. He hit the Indians' fourth and final homer, a two-run shot that just cleared the center field wall. Later in the frame, Joaquin Benoit had control issues and issued three straight free passes with two outs before walking Francisco to force in a run and push Cleveland's lead to 13-9.

Rafael Perez worked a scoreless bottom of the eighth, and Joe Borowski set the Rangers down in order in the ninth to close out the game.

After a scoreless first inning, the game came to life in the second when Dellucci hit a lead-off double and Blake slammed a two-run shot to right- center field for a 2-0 Indians lead.

A Jarrod Saltalamacchia single in the home half of the inning plated Chris Shelton, who had doubled in the prior at-bat, to get the Rangers back within one.

Blake, though, answered in the next frame with another two-run homer with two outs. Dellucci grounded into a double play with two runners on base, leaving Ryan Garko on third. Blake came up and smacked the ball to left field for a 4-1 Cleveland edge.

Shin-Soo Choo followed with a single and came around on an Asdrubal Cabrera double for a four-run Indians lead.

But in the bottom half, the Rangers came back with a two-run homer off the hot bat of Hamilton, who increased his home run total to 16.

Though, just as Texas had gotten its deficit down to 5-3, Cleveland expanded its lead once more. A walk to Victor Martinez, and singles from Garko and Peralta left the bases loaded with one out.

Dellucci then struck out, but that only set the stage for Blake, and the third baseman again delivered by roping a double to right. It cleared the bases, gave Blake seven total RBI, and pushed Cleveland's advantage to 8-3.

The next two half-innings went quietly, without a run scored, but in the bottom of the fifth the Rangers knotted the game on a big blast.

Kinsler led off with a double and Young plated him with a single. Hamilton then singled and Bradley walked to load the bases with one out. Laffey got David Murphy to pop out, but Byrd slugged a first-pitch fastball over the right-center field wall for an 8-8 score.

The back-and-forth game continued in the seventh. Guardado came out of the Texas bullpen and got two outs, but allowed a single to Cabrera. He was lifted in favor of Benoit, who Francisco greeted with a two-run homer to left.

Shelton drove in Murphy with a two-out single in the bottom half to bring the Rangers within 10-9.

Game Notes

Cleveland had 16 hits and, despite the offensive output, still left 11 runners on base...Blake has six homers this season...It was Byrd's fourth career grand slam...Mathis threw 100 pitches...Monday, the Rangers placed pitcher Vicente Padilla on Major League Baseball's bereavement list to tend to a family emergency in Nicaragua...Hamilton was named the American League Player of the Month for May on Monday...Cleveland optioned infielder Michael Aubrey to Triple-A Buffalo and recalled pitcher Tom Mastny from Buffalo on Monday. The Indians announced that Jake Westbrook has been scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday and will likely return to the disabled list. An official roster move will be made Tuesday.

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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.

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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