A's held to two hits, but edge Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

08/04/2007 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Blanton outdueled Kelvim Escobar and pinch-hitter Travis Buck singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, as the Athletics capitalized on the few scoring opportunities they had in a 2-1 victory over the Angels.

Oakland had just two hits, but managed to win for the fourth time in five games.

Blanton (9-8) scattered eight hits and walked just two across seven innings to halt a personal four-game losing streak.

Huston Street came on to pitch a scoreless eighth, and Alan Embree threw a perfect ninth for his 13th save of the season, a single-season record for an Oakland left-hander.

Escobar (11-6) gave up just two hits in seven innings, but also walked seven batters to drop his third consecutive start.

The AL West-leading Angels lost for the third time in four games and fell to 4-8 against Oakland this season.

With the game tied at 1-1, the Angels put runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, but failed to score as Orlando Cabrera grounded into a force play to end the threat.

The A's took the lead in the bottom half of the frame when they took advantage of Escobar's command problems. Mark Ellis walked to initiate the offense, and after Mark Kotsay flied out to left, Escobar issued another free pass to Marco Scutaro. Donnie Murphy then lined out to third, and it appeared Escobar might escape the inning until Buck came through with a soft single to right, scoring Ellis.

The Angels had an opportunity to answer in the eighth with the middle of their order, but Street induced a Vladimir Guerrero pop-out, then struck out Garret Anderson and got Gary Matthews Jr. to ground softly to second to end the inning.

Embree retired the side in order in the ninth.

The Angels got on the board first. Casey Kotchman led off the second inning with a double to left field, and Maicer Izturis followed with a looping single to center. Catcher Jack Mathis then plated Kotchman with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Oakland evened the contest in the sixth, finally breaking through against Escobar. Murphy drew a leadoff walk, and catcher Rob Bowen advanced Murphy to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Escobar walked Shannon Stewart, Nick Swisher grounded to first base and Kotchman fired to second for the force. Cabrera's relay throw to first was on target, but a covering Escobar botched the putout and Swisher was safe on the fielder's choice. On the error, Murphy came all the way around to score and tie the game.

Game Notes

The four-game series wraps up Sunday...Blanton's win was just his second in eight career starts (2-6) against the Angels and his first ever at home...The A's had not won a game in which they had only two hits since August 5, 1995...Jack Cust, who singled in the fourth and drew a pair of walks, had the only other Oakland hit...Seven different Angels players had at least one hit, with Izturis going 2-for-4...Matthews was 0-for-4, leaving four runners on base...Escobar's seven walks equaled a career-high.

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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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