Posey and the Giants play second of four with Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trading catcher Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers could be the best move the San Francisco Giants make all season. Buster Posey is certainly on board with the decision and has been proving it ever since.

Posey and the Giants will resume a four-game series tonight against the National League West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The young backstop is having a hot month and is currently riding a 16-game hitting streak. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Thursday's 3-0 win and is batting .438 in July with seven homers and 21 runs batted in.

His hitting streak is the third longest by a rookie in team history. Orlando Cepeda hit in 17 straight games back in 1958, while Willie McCovey leads the way with a 22-gamer during the 1959 campaign.

Andres Torres homered and Aaron Rowand had an RBI for the wild card-leading Giants, who have won 12 of their last 15 games and pulled within three games of San Diego for the top spot in the NL West standings. Matt Cain was able to make that happen and evened his 2010 mark at 8-8 with eight shutout innings and nine strikeouts. Brian Wilson then recorded his 27th save in the ninth.

"What a game he pitched," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Cain. "He had everything going tonight, locating his fastball in and out, breaking balls he threw for strikes. Their guy was pitching well too. You don't see too many games like that here. What a job he did for us."

Jonathan Sanchez has a tough act to follow when he takes the hill for the Giants Friday night in the desert. Sanchez has won five of his last seven decisions and hasn't factored in the outcome in each of his last two starts. In Sunday's 4-3 home loss to the New York Mets, Sanchez was sharp with seven innings of two-run ball and five strikeouts.

Sanchez remained at 7-6 in 19 starts to go along with a 3.42 earned run average. The left-hander hopes to even his 2-3 road record tonight and beat the Diamondbacks for a second time this season. In a 12-1 drubbing of Arizona on May 29 at AT&T Park, Sanchez pitched five innings of one-run ball and struck out seven batters to improve to 5-6 in 16 career meetings (13 starts) with the D'Backs.

Arizona entered this series fresh off a three-game sweep of the New York Mets and lost for the fifth time in eight tries on Thursday. Rodrigo Lopez had a decent outing go to waste, as he allowed all three runs on five hits over seven innings. Lopez also fanned seven batters.

"I was trying to go deep in the game since we don't have many pitcher available tonight," Lopez said. "It wasn't enough to defeat the Giants."

Chris Young, Justin Upton and Cole Gillespie provided the hits for the Diamondbacks, who are last in the NL West at 19 games off the pace. Upton has hit safely in a season-high eight straight games with six doubles, one triple, two homers and an eight RBI over that span.

Edwin Jackson looks to avoid losing his third straight start when he takes the mound for the 20th time tonight for Arizona. Jackson has lost back-to-back starts since a personal three-game winning streak, which included a no-hitter on June 25 at Tampa Bay, and previously pitched in Sunday's 6-4 loss at San Diego. He gave up four runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven K's, falling to 6-8 in 19 trips to the hill.

Jackson, a right-hander, has allowed at least four runs in each of his last three outings and will try to even his 3-4 home mark. He will face the Giants for the first time since losing to them back on May 28, when he yielded three runs in seven innings of his team's 5-0 loss. Jackson is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in three career games (2 starts) against San Francisco.

San Francisco leads the 2010 season series with Arizona by a 4-2 margin, but is 17-7 over the past 24 meetings between the two ballclubs.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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Super Bowl XLIV Odds

Super Bowl XLIII isn't even a week old yet and oddsmakers have already released Super Bowl XLIV odds.

Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl 43, the New England Patriots are 8/1 favorites to win Super Bowl 44.

Bet Super Bowl XLIV Future Odds

With their 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers became the latest NFL champion. But believe it or not, oddsmakers from online sports book MySportsbook.com don't have the Steelers the favorites to win Super Bowl XLIV next season.

That honor belongs to the New England Patriots, who are 8/1 favorites to win despite not even qualify for the postseason in 2008. The Pats also have a major decision to make regarding what to do with Matt Cassel, who played well in Tom Brady's (knee surgery) absence last year but is also a free agent this offseason.

Ironically, the Steelers aren't even oddsmakers second choice to win Super Bowl 44, as the Dallas Cowboys are listed right behind the Patriots at 9/1 despite not making the playoffs themselves. Clearly oddsmakers think the public will hop back on the Cowboys' bandwagon considering the immense talent they have and the opening of a brand new stadium.

After Dallas, then comes Pittsburgh at 10/1, but they share those odds with the New York Giants, who won Super Bowl XLII. The Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers round out the top six teams at 12/1, while the Baltimore Ravens (14/1), Tennessee Titans (16/1), Carolina Panthers (18/1) and Philadelphia Eagles (18/1) complete the top 10.

The NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals got no love from oddsmakers as they were established as a 30/1 long shot to win next year's Super Bowl. They share those same odds with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – two teams that didn't even qualify for the postseason. Other long shots are the Kansas City Chiefs (100/1), Detroit Lions (100/1), St. Louis Rams (75/1) and Oakland Raiders (75/1).

To see a complete list of all the team's odds to win Super Bowl XLIV, check below.

NFL TEAM FUTURE ODDS TO WIN SUPER BOWL XLIV

New England Patriots 8/1

Dallas Cowboys 9/1

New York Giants 10/1

Pittsburgh Steelers 10/1

Indianapolis Colts 12/1

San Diego Chargers 12/1

Baltimore Ravens 14/1

Tennessee Titans 16/1

Carolina Panthers 18/1

Philadelphia Eagles 18/1

New Orleans Saints 20/1

Atlanta Falcons 25/1

Denver Broncos 25/1

Green Bay Packers 25/1

Jacksonville Jaguars 25/1

Minnesota Vikings 25/1

New York Jets 25/1

Arizona Cardinals 30/1

Chicago BearS 30/1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30/1

Buffalo Bills 35/1

Houston TexaNS 35/1

Miami Dolphins 35/1

Washington Redskins 35/1

Seattle SeahawkS 50/1

Cleveland Browns 55/1

Cincinnati Bengals 60/1

San Francisco 49ers 60/1

Oakland Raiders 75/1

St. Louis Rams 75/1

Detroit Lions 100/1

Kansas City Chiefs 100/1

Odds as of: 2/2/09

Bet Super Bowl XLIV Future Odds

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