Downtrodden Dodgers continue home set with Astros

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08/14/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to stop a three-game slide when they resume a four-game series this evening versus the Houston Astros at Chavez Ravine.

Los Angeles, which has lost nine of 11 and is 4-14 over its last 18 games, suffered a 4-1 loss to the Astros on Monday in the series opener. Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Dodgers, who sit 3 1/2 games off the NL Wild Card lead.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley gave up four runs on six hits over five innings for the loss. He also struck out seven and walked four batters.

Brett Tomko gets the nod for Los Angeles this evening and is 2-9 with a 5.49 ERA in 31 games (13 starts) this season. Tomko will try for his first win at Dodger Stadium this season after going 0-6 with a 6.69 earned run average through 16 games (six starts) so far at home.

The right-hander is 0-2 in his last four appearances and received a no decision last Thursday at Cincinnati, yielding three runs in six innings of a 5-4 Dodgers win at Great American Ball Park.

Tomko is 5-5 with a 4.55 earned run average in 14 career starts against the Astros.

Houston has won two in a row and five of seven. In Monday's victory over Los Angeles, Roy Oswalt pitched eight solid innings and Jason Lane hit a two-run homer to lead the way.

Oswalt won his fifth straight start, giving up just six hits and one run with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. He hasn't lost since July 14 and has allowed just three earned runs over 33 innings during that stretch.

Chad Qualls then closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Houston is nine games behind Milwaukee for the top spot in the NL Central standings and 10 1/2 games off the wild-card chase.

Matt Albers will take the ball for the Astros tonight and is 2-5 with a 6.20 ERA in 22 games (nine starts) this season. Albers last started on August 5 against Florida and yielded five runs in 4 1/3 frames of a 6-5 loss. He has made two relief appearances since.

The right-hander faced Los Angeles for the first time in his career on July 25. He hurled five shutout innings with five strikeouts and one walk, but settled for a no decision during Houston's 2-1 victory at Minute Maid Park.

These two clubs met in Houston from July 23-25 of this season, with the Astros winning two of three. LA and Houston split six meetings last year.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

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.

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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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