Longoria helps Rays handle Mariners

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05/06/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria drove in two runs, including the go-ahead single in the eighth inning, and the Rays continued their amazing success on the road with an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Matt Garza (5-1) threw eight solid innings, allowing five hits and two runs for Tampa Bay, which has grabbed the first two contest of this series and eight of 10 overall. The Rays' 20-7 overall start is the best by an American League club since the 2005 White Sox (20-7). Tampa Bay's 11-1 road start is the best since the 2003 Yankees had the same mark.

Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run homer for Seattle, which has dropped five straight and nine of 11.

Cliff Lee (0-1) making just his second start of the season since coming off the disabled list due to an abdominal strain, suffered the loss. The lefty surrendered 10 hits and five runs -- four earned -- over eight inning. He also had five strikeouts.

"We put so much pressure on this pitching staff because the lack of offense," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "When we're throwing a guy like Cliff Lee, those are the ball games you need to win and we've got to get better offensively."

Outfielder Milton Bradley, sometimes a lightning rod for controversy, has asked the management of the Mariners for help after he was pulled from the game by Wakamatsu in Tuesday's contest. The Mariners decided to start Ryan Langerhans in left field instead of Bradley Wednesday. Bradley struck out with the bases loaded in the sixth inning Tuesday and is hitting just .214 this season and has 24 strikeouts in 70 at-bats.

Carl Crawford legged out an infield hit with one out in the eighth and Ben Zobrist followed with a bunt single. Longoria then singled to left and Crawford slid in safely ahead of a late throw to the plate. Carlos Pena then lined out to Josh Wilson, but the shortstop's attempt to complete a double play failed as the throw to first sailed high, allowing Zobrist to score. B.J. Upton then singled in Tampa Bay's fifth run of the night.

Sean White gave up an RBI double to pinch-hitter Reid Brignac in the ninth. Zobrist added a sacrifice fly and Jason Bartlett scored on Longoria's ground ball fielder's choice.

Seattle loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth against Grant Balfour and Gutierrez scored on Wilson's force play grounder up the middle. Brignac made a great bare-hand grab for the force play on a flip from Bartlett for that second out. Pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney struck out swinging to end the game.

Casey Kotchman doubled with one out in the fourth and Gutierrez followed with a homer to right field, but the Rays tied it in the next inning thanks to an RBI single from Gabe Kapler and run-scoring double from Bartlett.

"That's huge. That gave me a lot more confidence going back out there for the bottom of the fifth," Garza said. "I just told myself 'that's all they get' and just let these guys hit the ball on the ground or hit the ball in the air to my defense and that's exactly what I did."

Game Notes

Mariners shortstop Jack Wilson left the game with tightness in his right hamstring. He departed in the third inning, shortly after bunting for a hit...Seattle put right-handed reliever Mark Lowe on the 15-day disabled list due to inflammation of a disc in his lower back. Seattle replaced Lowe on the roster by recalling righty Shawn Kelley from Triple-A Tacoma...The Mariners had gone 76 1/3 innings without a homer prior to Gutierrez smacking his third of the season...Ken Griffey's ground-rule double in the fourth inning tied him with Rafael Palmeiro (1,192) for six-place on the all-time extra base hits list...Longoria has an 11-game hitting streak...Lee fell to 6-3 lifetime against the Rays.

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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.

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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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