Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
05/20/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooks Conrad hit a pinch-hit, game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the Atlanta Braves scored seven times in the frame to come back and shock the Cincinnati Reds, 10-9, and complete the sweep of a brief two-game series at Turner Field.
Nate McLouth contributed a two-run single in the ninth, while Martin Prado and Jason Heyward knocked in a run apiece for the Braves, who have won three straight and eight of their last 10 overall.
Atlanta's Tommy Hanson got the start and was raked for a career-high eight runs on as many hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts in only 1 2/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel (1-0) was credited with the win for tossing a scoreless top of the ninth. It was his first major league victory.
Joey Votto cracked his first career grand slam, while Laynce Nix added a solo shot and knocked in three for Cincinnati, which has dropped two in a row after winning four straight.
Mike Leake worked six solid innings, giving up three runs -- one earned -- on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Francisco Cordero (1-3) absorbed the loss for giving up the grand slam in the ninth.
"It was kind of a shock, disappointing, obviously to finish off the game that way," Votto said. "I don't think anybody assumed we were going to win the game until it was over, but you go into the ninth inning comfortable and the bullpen has been excellent so far, another reason it was a shock to us."
Mike Lincoln replaced Leake after six frames and appeared to have things in total control after throwing a perfect seventh and eighth inning. The veteran right-hander stayed on for the ninth with the Reds up 9-3 and got into trouble.
Three straight singles loaded the bases and McClouth's two-run base hit made it a 9-5 game, leaving runners on the corners with nobody out.
Nick Masset came in out of the bullpen and walked David Ross to load the bases. Masset then got Prado to ground to third, but Miguel Cairo was unable to get the ball out of his glove, allowing another run to cross the plate. Arthur Rhodes entered the game and struck out Heyward.
Manager Dusty Baker again turned to his bullpen and brought in Cordero, who left a 2-2 fastball out over the plate and Conrad hammered it to deep left. Nix appeared to have a beat on the ball, but as he leapt at the wall to grab it, the ball hit off the left fielder's glove and went over for the dramatic grand slam.
"What an unbelievable game," Conrad said. "Getting down early, them hitting Tommy (Hanson) like that. Just perseverance. We stuck there the whole game, we scratched out a few runs, guys battled in the ninth and gave us a chance. Definitely unbelievable excitement. I'm speechless right now."
Hanson worked out of trouble in the first, but the young right-hander wasn't so fortunate in the second, as the Reds sent 12 men to the plate and pushed across eight runs -- all with two outs.
Cincinnati loaded the bases before Cairo's RBI base hit got the scoring started. Votto then crushed a fastball into the center field seats for a 5-0 game. After the next two batters reached, Ramon Hernandez brought in a run with a base hit and Nix followed with a two-run double to make it 8-0. Hanson was lifted for Jesse Chavez, who got the final out of the inning.
Atlanta got on the board in the third when Prado hit a ground-rule double and crossed the plate on Leake's missed catch error at first base on a grounder hit by Heyward.
Nix clubbed a solo shot in the fifth to make it a 9-1 game before the Braves responded with two in the bottom half. Atlanta loaded the bases with a walk and two singles, then Heyward grounded to first and Votto's throw was dropped at second base by shortstop Orlando Cabrera, allowing two runs to score.
Game Notes
The Reds won six of nine versus the Braves last year, sweeping all three meetings at Turner Field from September 4-6...Atlanta finished 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded only four runners, while Cincinnati went 4-for-13 with RISP and left eight.
<< Cards double up Marlins, earn series split
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday's two-run, go-ahead double in
the second inning held up, as the Cardinals earned a split of a two-game
series against the Marlins with a 4-2 decision.
Ryan Ludwick and David Freese ea
<< Belmont Stakes prospect preps in turf race
Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Madrid, a Belmont Stakes candidate, faded
down the stretch Thursday at Belmont Park in his first race in more than a
month. The three-year-old colt was using the optional claiming event as a prep
for the
<< Webb to referee Champions League final
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Howard Webb will referee Saturday's Champions
League final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Madrid, Spain.
Webb, who has been an international referee since 2005, will be assisted by
his countrymen
<< Neuer vows to stay at Schalke
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany international goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer has vowed to stay with Schalke, having continually been linked
with a move to Bayern Munich in the past few months.
The 24-year-old had seemed cer
Russia, Germany advance to World semis, join Sweden and Czechs >>
Cologne, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thanks to a pair of goals by Evgeni
Malkin and three assists from Ilya Kovalchuk, Russia won its 26th consecutive
World Championship contest, topping Canada by a 5-2 count to earn a berth in
the sem
Villa rejects City's offer for Milner >>
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa has rejected a $28 million
offer from Manchester City for James Milner.
City have been linked with a move for the England midfielder since the end of
a season where he was named PFA Young
Yankees put Posada on DL, bring up Moeller >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees placed injured catcher Jorge
Posada on the 15-day disabled list Thursday.
Posada has a hairline fracture on the bottom of his right foot, and it was
announced Wednesday he will be sidelin
Benitez wants to stay at Liverpool >>
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Benitez insists he is ready to
see out the remaining four years of his Liverpool contract despite being
expected to leave Anfield this summer.
The Spaniard was believed to be heading o
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting