Kouzmanoff, Braden help A's stop streaking White Sox

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and Dallas Braden tossed a complete game to lead Oakland to a 6-2 victory over Chicago in the second installment of a three-game set.

Kouzmanoff went 3-for-5 and scored three times while Daric Barton added a pair of hits and drove in two runs to help the Athletics snap a two-game slide.

Braden (6-7) permitted eight hits, walked one and struck out five to win his second consecutive start -- both against Chicago -- after going nine straight turns without a win following his perfect game for Oakland, which snapped the White Sox's 12-game home winning streak.

John Danks (11-8) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out eight in 6 2/3 innings for Chicago, which also had a five-game overall win streak halted.

Kouzmanoff started the second inning with a single, moved to second base on an Adam Rosales base hit and scored when Rajai Davis singled to right field. Mark Ellis walked to load the bases for Matt Carson, who roped a single to left to plate Rosales.

Coco Crisp struck out before Barton lined a single to right field to chase home two runs to extend the visitors' lead to 4-0.

Kouzmanoff led off the third with a home run to straightaway center to push the lead to five.

Braden held the Sox to two hits over the first five frames before Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez opened the sixth with back-to-back singles. The southpaw got out of trouble by retiring Alex Rios and Paul Konerko on fly outs and Carlos Quentin on a fielder's choice grounder.

Barton's ground rule double with two outs in the seventh spelled the end of the night for Danks. Tony Pena came on to end the inning.

Chicago's only runs came in the seventh when Dayan Viciedo singled with one out and scored when Andruw Jones followed with a homer.

Oakland loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and got a sacrifice fly from Ellis to push their advantage to 6-2.

Viciedo doubled with one out in the ninth, but Braden retired Jones and Gordon Beckham to end the game and sew up his third route-going performance of the season.

Game Notes

Oakland has won 10 of its last 15 road games, while the Sox fell for only a second time in their last 21 home games...The A's are 8-10 in Braden's starts. Kouzmanoff has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, while Davis extended his hitting streak to six games...Jones' long ball was the 403rd of his career... Danks suffered his first career defeat to Oakland in six starts. He is 4-1 against the A's...Oakland was 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position while the Sox were 0-for-8 with RISP and stranded seven...Oakland leads the season series, 3-2.

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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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