Hafner is grand as Indians overcome Reds

Baseball Betting Lines

07/02/2006 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's sixth career grand slam helped the Cleveland Indians top the Cincinnati Reds, 12-7, in the middle contest of their three-game interleague series at Great American Ball Park.

Cliff Lee (8-5) followed up an impressive June with another win, allowing four runs on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts in six innings.

Ronnie Belliard and Victor Martinez both had two hits and two runs scored for the Indians, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Right-hander Joe Mays (0-5), who made his second start with the Reds, gave up eight runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts and four walks in five innings. Ken Griffey Jr., Austin Kearns and Ryan Freel homered for the Reds, who had a three-game winning streak broken.

Cleveland got on the board right away with one run in the first. Belliard doubled and later scored on a Ben Broussard double to left field.

The Indians added two more runs in the second. Aaron Boone walked and Franklin Gutierrez and Cliff Lee singled to load the bases with no outs. Grady Sizemore then walked to force home Boone, and Jhonny Peralta singled home Gutierrez.

The Tribe missed an opportunity to do more damage, as with the bases still juiced, Martinez grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Cincinnati tied the game in the fourth with three runs on one play. Rich Aurilia doubled, Brandon Phillips singled and Jason LaRue got intentionally walked. Mays then cleared the bases with a double to right field to tie the game.

Cleveland regained control right away in the fifth by scoring five quick runs. Peralta, Martinez and Broussard singled, and Todd Hollandsworth grounded a run-scoring single. Boone got intentionally walked to reload the bases for Hafner, who belted a grand slam over the wall in center field.

Cincinnati started to rally in the home half when Griffey smacked a solo shot to right field on a 2-0 pitch.

The Indians tacked on two more runs in the seventh. Boone walked and Joe Inglett doubled, and Ryan Garko doubled them both home on a ground ball to left field.

The Reds scored two more runs in the seventh when Aurilia singled and Kearns homered him home on a 2-0 pitch to left field.

Cleveland kept pushing, however, with two more runs in the eighth. Belliard doubled and Martinez walked. Hollandsworth then singled home Kearns and Boone singled home Martinez.

Freel homered to center field on a 1-0 pitch in the eighth for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Reds took two of three from Cleveland last week, but Cleveland has won 10 of the last 17 encounters...Cincy is 61-77 all-time in interleague play, while the Indians are 92-82 against the National League...Mays is now 0-8 against Cleveland...Hafner's four grand slams in a season ties the franchise record with Al Rosen in 1951.

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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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