White Sox put win streak on the line versus rival Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An eight-game winning streak propelled the Chicago White Sox to the top of the American League Central at the All-Star break. Tonight, they put that streak on the line against a division foe, as they open a four- game set with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

With their manager and general manager feuding, the White Sox were 9 1/2 games out of first place back on June 8. However, wins in 25 of their final 30 games before the break has them a half-game in front of the Detroit Tigers in the Central.

"I think it is a shock just because the way the team was playing, how many games we were out of first place. It's a shock how quick we did it," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I know we are going to compete this year and hopefully we stay the same way we are right now. We put ourselves in a pretty nice spot and see what happens the rest of the summer."

Starting pitching has been the difference for Chicago, which has received quality starts in 27 of its last 31 games.

"We've been pitching well," Guillen recently said. "All five [of our starters] give our team a chance to win."

Left-hander John Danks gets the call for Guillen's crew tonight, as he tries to follow up a brilliant effort his last time out. Danks took a no-hitter into the seventh and tossed a two-hit shutout to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last Thursday, striking out seven without walking a batter to improve to 8-7, while lowering his earned run average to 3.29.

He has allowed three runs or less in all but one of his past six starts.

Danks, though, lost to the Twins the last time these teams met and is 4-6 lifetime against them with a 5.03 ERA.

As hot as Chicago was heading into the break, the Twins were just as cold, losing five of their final seven games to slip 3 1/2 games back in the Central.

Of the Twins' five division titles in the last eight years, just one of them have come with the team holding the top spot at the break.

Trying to get Minnesota on track this evening will be righty Kevin Slowey, who is 8-5 with a 4.64 ERA. Slowey was roughed up in his last start on July 7 in Toronto, as he allowed five runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. However, he did not get a decision in that one, despite his team's 6-5 setback.

"He's frustrated just like everybody else," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We've got a few of those guys that have to right their ships. But going and making wholesale changes on guys that we've put our stock into, I don't know about that right away."

Slowey lost to the White Sox the last time he faced them and is 2-3 against them with a 5.66 ERA in seven games, six of which have been starts.

Minnesota has won three of its five matchups with the White Sox this season.

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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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