Jays, Marcum hope to avoid brooms in Cleveland

Baseball Betting Lines

07/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jays were left without an ace when they traded Roy Halladay this past offseason, but Shaun Marcum has wasted little time claiming ownership of the title.

Marcum will try to prevent his Toronto squad from getting swept in four games by Cleveland for the first time in nearly 25 years and deny the Indians a season-best fifth straight victory in this afternoon's finale at Progressive Field.

The right-handed Marcum missed all of 2009 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but is 7-3 with a 3.14 earned run average in 16 starts so far this season. A 12-game winner in 2007, Marcum beat the Phillies with six innings of one-run ball, striking out six while improving to 2-0 over his last three starts with a 2.00 ERA.

"The pitch that was getting him strikeouts and groundouts when we needed it, or a fly ball, was his changeup," Toronto catcher John Buck told Toronto's website. "It was kind of just the equalizer that we could always go to. It was really dropping off the table well."

The 28-year-old has never beaten the Indians, going 0-2 with a 4.38 ERA in six games (four starts) against them.

Toronto hasn't beaten anybody since Marcum's last start as it dropped its finale with Philadelphia on Sunday before dropping the first three tests of this series, plating just a single run in two of them. The Blue Jays have now lost eight of their last 10 to fall eight games back of the Yankees for first place in the American League East.

Nick Green's RBI infield single in the seventh inning accounted for Toronto's only offense as Cleveland starter Aaron Laffey threw six-plus innings of one- run ball.

"It's just baseball. It's just the way it goes sometimes," said Jays manager Cito Gaston. "Last year, it was the other way around. This year, it seems to be that guys that are struggling, they seem to be up there with guys on base. That's just the way it is with baseball."

Toronto is hitting just .221 over its last 10 games, averaging just 2.8 runs per game in that span. The Blue Jays also haven't homered in three straight games for the first time this season.

"I was on a better page -- me and [catcher Carlos Santana]," Laffey said. "We did a great job of changing speeds and calling good pitches in good counts, and I was able to execute for the most part."

While the Blue Jays' bats are struggling, the Indians have a host of players riding hot streaks. Matt LaPorta homered for the second straight game in last night's victory, while Shin-Soo Choo connected on his fifth homer in eight games. Santana added two hits and an RBI, giving him a .345 average over his first 18 MLB games.

Cleveland, which lost 11 of 12 before its current four-game win streak, was swept at home by Toronto in early May, but tonight the Indians can sweep the Blue Jays in four games for the first time since doing so at home from Aug. 28-31, 1995.

For that to happen, they will need Justin Masterson to pitch better than he has as of late. The 25-year-old is 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in his last three starts, including a loss to Cincinnati on Saturday in which he allowed six runs on six hits and four walks over five-plus innings.

Masterson fell to 2-7 on the season with a 5.21 ERA and will make his first career start versus the Blue Jays tonight. The right-hander has faced them seven times in relief, pitching to a 2.89 ERA over 9 1/3 total innings.

Jazzspirts Baseball Betting News

<< Zvonareva reaches Wimbledon final
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russian Vera Zvonareva landed in her first career Grand Slam final on Thursday by overcoming upstart Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in semifinal action at Wimbledon 2010. The 21st-seeded Zvonareva's oppon

<< Ex-NHLer Hinote joins Blue Jackets staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Former NHL veteran Dan Hinote (HIGH'-note) has been hired as an assistant coach by the Columbus Blue Jackets.The club announced the hiring on Thursday. Hinote helped the Colorado Avalanche win the 2001 Stanley Cup.Hinote will be

<< Report: Bucks reach deal with Gooden
Sunnyvale, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly reached an agreement on a multi-year contract with forward Drew Gooden, just hours after the NBA free agency period began. According to Yahoo! Sports, Gooden has

<< Agent: Byron Scott accepts Cavs' job
CLEVELAND (AP) -Byron Scott has accepted Cleveland's coaching job, his agent told The Associated Press.Brian McInerney said in an e-mail that the sides are working through some final details, but that Scott has agreed to become Cleveland's next coac

<< Now a free agent, King James awaits his suitors
NEW YORK (AP) -Finally free to leave Cleveland, LeBron James is ready to hear reasons why he should.The NBA's long-awaited free agency period opened early Thursday, with teams such as New York and Miami focusing their attention on California.Now all

Yanks, Sabathia aim to avoid sweep at hands of Mariners >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red-hot Yankees ace CC Sabathia puts his five-start winning streak and unblemished home record on the line this afternoon against the Seattle Mariners in the finale of a three-game series from the Bronx. Sabathia has pitch

A's Cahill puts unbeaten streak on the line against Orioles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics young starter Trevor Cahill is making a case for the American League All-Star team and will try to keep his unbeaten streak intact tonight against the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of a three- game series

Pavano goes for Twins in opener with Rays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An injury on Wednesday forced the Twins to go to their bullpen a little earlier then they might have needed to. With Carl Pavano set to start tonight versus the Rays, Minnesota's relief group might get rewarded with some mor

Santana leads Mets into series opener at Nationals Park >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johan Santana tries to avoid a third straight loss this evening when the New York Mets begin a four-game series with the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Santana has actually lost three of his last four out

Giants kick off road trip in Colorado >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants hope to avoid a sixth straight loss this evening, as they kick off an 11-game road trip with the first of four games against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Giants managed to bea

Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.

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.

RSS Sports Betting Odds Feeds

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