Zimmerman's homer lifts Nationals over Phillies
Baseball Betting Lines
07/31/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth led the Washington Nationals to a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second of a three-game set.
After the Phillies took a one-run lead on Carlos Ruiz's RBI single in the ninth, the Phils turned to Brad Lidge (1-1) to close the game, but it was not to be.
Mike Morse led off with a single and moved to second on Nyjer Morgan's sac bunt. Adam Kennedy followed with a walk and Zimmerman then crushed a fastball over the middle of the plate over the center-field wall for the win.
Roger Bernadina and Josh Willingham each had an RBI and scored a run for the Nationals, who have won four of their last five. Zimmerman finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Ross Detwiler gave up just one run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Drew Storen (3-2) got the win in relief.
Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run while Ruiz finished the game 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBI for the Phillies, who have lost two in a row since an eight-game winning streak.
Joe Blanton had a shaky start, but settled down and over six innings he gave up four runs on nine hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.
The Nationals jumped on Blanton in the first inning. With two outs and two on, Willingham flied a ball to left that Ibanez made a diving play on and got leather on the ball, but it fell out when he hit the ground and one run scored. Bernadina and Ivan Rodriguez followed with consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
The Phils had men on base in each of the first three innings, but didn't put one across till the fourth. With a man on and one out, Domonic Brown reached base when he hit into a fielder's choice. Ruiz then belted a single to center and Wilson Valdez followed with a single to left to plate Brown and make it a 3-1 game.
With one out in the sixth, Joel Peralta took over for Detwiler and Ruiz greeted him with a shot over the wall in left to make it a one-run game.
Blanton settled down after the shaky start and didn't allow a run over the next four innings, but the Nationals did get one back in the bottom of the sixth.
Bernadina led off with a double and Rodriguez followed with a single. Ian Desmond then hit a sinking liner to right that saw Brown make a beautiful diving stop on, but Bernadina tagged up for a 4-2 lead. Willie Harris then hit a single, but Morgan grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Philly, though, tied the game in the seventh off of Tyler Clippard as Placido Polanco worked a one-out walk and Ibanez followed by drilling an 0-1 pitch into the bullpen in right for his 10th home run of the season.
Game Notes
The Phillies finished July with a mark of 15-13 while the Nationals went 12-13...Each team has won four times in the season series...Philadelphia left 12 men on base...Cole Hamels takes the mound for Philly on Sunday in the series finale and will be opposed by John Lannan.
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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.