Cubs hold on to edge Braves

Baseball Betting Lines

08/21/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Gorzelanny turned in seven strong innings and Aramis Ramirez finished 3-for-4 with two RBI, as Chicago escaped with a 5-4 victory over Atlanta in the middle contest of a three-game set from Wrigley Field.

Gorzelanny (7-7) scattered seven hits and one run, fanning nine with two walks to get the win for Chicago, which snapped an eight-game home losing streak. The north siders hadn't won in the Friendly Confines since August 4 against Milwaukee.

Tyler Colvin also drove in two runs for the Cubs, who snapped a five-game losing skid but nearly wasted a 5-0 lead in the effort. Carlos Marmol, who blew a one-run ninth-inning lead in a 5-3 loss on Friday, recovered to post a scoreless final frame for his 22nd save.

Brooks Conrad had a pinch-hit three-run double for the Braves, who had won five of six coming in.

Tommy Hanson (8-9) yielded seven hits and five runs -- four earned -- over five full frames in defeat.

Atlanta's lead shrunk to two games over Philadelphia in the NL East, with the Phillies playing the Nationals on Saturday.

Atlanta climbed within 5-4 in the eighth. Andrew Cashner subbed for Gorzelanny but loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Sean Marshall came on to fan pinch-hitter Melky Cabrera but Conrad launched a bases-clearing pinch-hit double into the ivy in center.

Omar Infante drew a free pass and Jason Heyward was hit on the hand to load the bases before Martin Prado grounded out to short to end the threat.

In the ninth, Marmol issued a leadoff walk to former Cub Derrek Lee but retired the next three batters to end the contest.

Chicago jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first as Ramirez and Colvin registered back-to-back RBI singles.

The Cubs tacked on three more in the third. Ramirez singled home Starlin Castro, who walked to start the frame, then Colvin followed with a base hit and Blake DeWitt added a two-out RBI single.

Alex Gonzalez hit a run-scoring double to get the Braves on the board in the sixth.

Game Notes

Gorzelanny hadn't won since July 24, going 0-2 with two no-decisions since then...The Braves have won three of the five games in the season series...It was Chicago's first home win over Atlanta since July 6, 2009...Hanson hasn't won since July 3 at Florida, going 0-4 with five no-decisions in that span. It was also the first time since July 16 he failed to last longer than five innings in a start.

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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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