Jimenez wins 18th as Rockies double-up Reds
Baseball Betting Lines
09/06/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Troy Tulowitzki hit the go-ahead home run and Ubaldo Jimenez finally picked up his long-awaited 18th win of the season as Colorado outlasted Cincinnati, 10-5, to begin a crucial four-game series at Coors Field.
Jimenez (18-6) became the Rockies' all-time single season wins leader after five prior aborted attempts. He struggled through six innings during which he yielded four runs on seven hits and six walks while striking out eight for the Rockies, who climbed to within four games of division-leading San Diego in the NL West and 4 1/2 games of NL Wild Card pace-setters Philadelphia.
Tulowitzki finished 2-for-5 with three RBI, while the red-hot Carlos Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with two RBI to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games for Colorado, which won its major league-leading 30th day game.
Bill Bray (0-2) took the loss after surrendering three runs on two hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings in relief for the Reds, who have dropped three of four and saw their lead in the NL Central trimmed to six games after St. Louis downed Milwaukee earlier in the day.
Cincinnati sent 10 men to the plate and manufactured the first four runs of the game in the third.
Drew Stubbs walked, advanced to third on a Paul Janish ground-rule double and scored on a Brandon Phillips groundout. Janish then scored on Chris Heisey's two-out bunt base hit to third.
Joey Votto followed with another ground-rule double in front of Jonny Gomes, who flared a single into right to chase home Heisey and Votto.
Colorado came right back in the bottom half to get the game tied with a four- spot of its own.
The rally started with a walk to Jimenez that was followed by Eric Young's double and a walk to Dexter Fowler that loaded the bases with one out.
Gonzalez followed with a double to right to deliver two runs and Tulowitzki then tripled to center to chase home two more runs to level the count. Todd Helton walked to spell the end of the day for Aaron Harang. Jordan Smith came in and got Melvin Mora to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Harang was charged with four runs on four hits and three walks over just 2 1/3 innings in his shortest start of the season.
The Reds wasted an opportunity to retake the lead in the fifth as they had runners at the corners with nobody out and did not score. Jimenez struck out Stubbs, got Janish to pop out and fanned pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso.
Bray opened the fifth on the hill for the visitors and served up a two-out solo shot to Tulowitzki that gave the Rockies their first lead at 5-4.
The visitors threatened again in the sixth as they loaded the bases with two outs before Jimenez got Ramon Hernandez to ground out with his 123rd and final pitch of the afternoon.
Colorado expanded its lead in the bottom of the inning with three runs.
Aroldis Chapman assumed the hill with runners at first and second and two outs and gave up an RBI single to Eric Young, Jr. Fowler legged out an infield hit that was fielded by a sprawling Janish at short, who threw from his back wildly past second base, allowing Chris Nelson to score to make it a 7-4 contest.
An infield hit by Gonzalez loaded the bases and a passed ball by catcher Ryan Hanigan, who had entered the game with Chapman as part of a double switch, scored Young to make it an 8-4 game.
The hosts tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh against Carlos Fisher on an RBI double by Miguel Olivo and a pinch-hit RBI single by Ryan Spilborghs.
The Reds got a run back in the eighth on a two-out, run-producing hit by Juan Francisco.
Game Notes
Gonzalez has 10 multi-hit games, including in five of his last six, during his hitting streak. He has an extra-base hit in 12 of those games and has driven in a run in 10 of them...Jimenez has a league-leading 11 wins during the day. He improved to 8-1 at home this season and to 3-0 in five career starts versus the Reds...Colorado has won seven straight home games over Cincinnati...Heisey has hit safely in seven of his last eight...Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez was scheduled to make his second start for low class-A Dayton Monday afternoon and is expected to rejoin the team later this week.
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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.