Cardinals go for ninth win in a row, sweep of slumping Phils

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07/22/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Wainwright will try to become just the second 15-game winner in the major leagues and remain unbeaten at home when he attempts to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to their ninth straight win and a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies today at Busch Stadium.

Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is currently tops in the bigs with 15 wins, while Wainwright is right behind with a 14-5 record and a 2.02 earned run average in 20 starts this season. He has won four straight starts to go along with a 0.31 ERA and hasn't allowed a run over his last 19 innings.

After going the distance in a win over Milwaukee on July 4, Wainwright threw eight shutout innings in a victory at Houston five days later. He then tossed six scoreless frames in a 2-0 triumph versus Los Angeles last Saturday, as he scattered five hits and struck out three batters. Wainwright pushed his 2010 Busch Stadium mark to 10-0 in 10 tries and owns a 1.31 ERA in that stretch.

The right-hander is 2-1 in seven career games (five starts) against the Phillies and did not record a decision when he faced them in a 2-1 loss in Philadelphia back on May 4. Wainwright limited Philadelphia to a run and four hits through eight innings of work.

Wainwright's staff mate Jaime Garcia picked up his ninth win of the season last night by holding the slumping Phillies to a run and four hits with six strikeouts through seven innings. Garcia (9-4), Wainwright and Chris Carpenter are a combined 39-21 so far this season.

"[Garcia] was aggressive. He didn't really get behind the count too often," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Matt Holliday homered and Felipe Lopez drove in two runs for the National League Central-leading Cardinals, who have won eight straight and will try for nine consecutive wins for the first time since the 2004 campaign. St. Louis, which is 1 1/2 games ahead of Cincinnati, hasn't swept the Phillies in four games at home since Aug. 4-7, 1986.

The last time St. Louis tasted defeat was July 10 at Houston. It will hit the road for six games against the Cubs and Mets after this afternoon's contest.

Philadelphia has dropped four in a row and fell to 1-6 on an eight-game road trip following last night's loss. A lack of runs and poor pitching has hampered the Phillies lately, and they could make a move for a pitcher with the trade deadline looming.

In Wednesday's four-run loss in the Gateway City, Joe Blanton fell to 3-6 on the season after he surrendered five runs -- three earned -- and seven hits in seven innings of work. Ryan Howard belted his 22nd home run of the season in the fifth inning to account for Philadelphia's scoring.

"What can I say?" Phils manager Charlie Manuel said on the team's site. "We come out here about every day and we do the same thing. We haven't been scoring runs. I've been giving everybody in that locker room a chance, I feel like. If you can hit, please do. What the hell? That's kind of how I look at it. That's not taking no shot at one guy. That's covering a lot of territory."

The Phillies will head home for seven games against Colorado and Arizona following this afternoon's contest and sit seven games behind Atlanta in the NL West standings.

Phillies lefty Cole Hamels pitched well enough for a win the last time he faced St. Louis, but was able to set his team up for a victory with eight innings of one-run ball and eight strikeouts in a 2-1 decision on May 4. Hamels, who is 2-2 in seven career starts against the Cardinals, will take the ball today and is 1-0 with a 1.66 ERA in his last three starts.

Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP, recorded another no-decision in last Saturday's 4-1 victory at the Chicago Cubs and limited the NL Central inhabitants to a run on eight hits in seven innings. The left-hander remained at 7-7 in 19 starts this year and lowered his ERA to 3.63. He hopes to even his road mark tonight, as he sports a 3-4 ledger in nine away starts this season.

The Phillies had a four-game winning streak in the Gateway City come to an end with a loss in Monday's opener of this set. St. Louis now leads the season series by a 4-3 count.

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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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