Padres aim to extend division lead in matchup vs. last-place D-Backs

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07/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The best team in the National League West, the San Diego Padres, will begin the second half of the season Friday against the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series at Petco Park.

San Diego is two games ahead of Colorado and a comfortable 17 1/2 games in front of the basement dwelling Diamondbacks in the division standings. It headed to the All-Star break with five wins over the previous nine contests and salvaged the finale of a three-game set at the Rockies with a 9-7 win last Sunday.

Everth Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Scott Hairston finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored in the win. Jerry Hairston Jr. recorded three hits, two runs scored and knocked in a run, while Chase Headley was credited with a pair of RBI for the Padres, who received a rough outing from starter Clayton Richard. The lefty did not figure into the decision and allowed six runs on six hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings.

Luke Gregerson posted the win in relief and All-Star closer Heath Bell got the last five outs for his 24th save of the season.

"For us to go into the break two games up and to have four days off, we're going to go out there and rejuvenate ourselves and play some good baseball in the second half," Bell said.

Jon Garland could use a boost right now and will take the mound for the Padres in Friday's series opener. Garland is 2-4 in the last six decisions and lost his most recent start on July 7 at Washington, as he gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings of a 7-6 setback.

Garland is 8-6 with a 3.56 earned run average in 18 starts this season thanks to a solid home ledger. In nine starts at Petco Park this season, the righty is 4-1 with a 2.62 ERA. He is 0-1 in two starts against Arizona this season and 2-2 in six career matchups -- all starts -- with the D'Backs.

Padres second baseman David Eckstein (calf) and center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. (heel) are both probable for this evening's game.

Arizona dropped seven of nine contests before the break and hopes to get off to a decent start in the second half of the 2010 campaign. After firing both their manager and general manager in a busy first half to the season, the Diamondbacks split a four-game set versus the Florida Marlins prior to the extended rest and sustained a 2-0 loss in Sunday's series finale.

Barry Enright made the start and was dealt the loss for yielding both runs and four hits through five innings. Chris Young, Kelly Johnson and Justin Upton has two hits apiece for Arizona.

"We certainly could have won this series, no question about it. Our pitching was really good," said D'Backs interim skipper Kirk Gibson.

One Arizona pitcher who hasn't been that good lately is tonight's starter Dan Haren, who is 0-3 in his last five starts. The Diamondbacks have lost all of those outings, including a July 9 performance versus the Marlins in which Haren permitted three runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 frames.

Haren, a right-hander, is 7-7 with a 4.36 earned run average in 19 starts this season and beat San Diego in his 2010 debut back on April 5. In the 6-3 victory over the Friars, Haren hurled seven innings of one-run ball and scattered three hits. He is 5-1 in 13 career games (12 starts) in this series.

San Diego has won four of six meetings with Arizona this season and six of the previous 10 contests between the NL West foes.

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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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