Nationals seek third straight win in opener with Brewers

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07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals hope to build off a very encouraging showing in their most recent series when the club travels to Miller Park tonight to start up a three-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Washington enters this evening's tilt off back-to-back victories on the road over National League Central contender Cincinnati. After posting an 8-5 victory behind rookie Stephen Strasburg on Wednesday, the Nationals received an even better performance out of veteran Livan Hernandez to hand the Reds a 7-1 defeat in yesterday's finale of a four-game series.

Hernandez (7-6) went the distance on a seven hitter and did not walk a batter while striking out five to stop a two-start losing streak. The 35-year-old notched his first victory since June 21.

Adam Dunn helped Hernandez's cause by belting a two-run homer and Roger Bernadina added a solo shot for the Nationals, who had lost four of the first five tests of their current 10-game road trip before Wednesday's verdict. Nyjer Morgan and Adam Kennedy each contributed two hits and an RBI to yesterday's result.

"We needed to put a couple together, and especially against a ballclub as good as Cincinnati," said Nationals manager Jim Riggleman. "We needed to win a couple. Not win a game and take a step back. We needed to show ourselves that yeah, you know, we can play with these other teams and put a few together and not win sporadically, but win more consistently."

Craig Stammen will try to give the Nationals another strong start when he takes the ball for tonight's opener. The right-hander has gone 0-2 over his last two mound trips, but did pitch very well in a hard-luck loss at Florida this past Sunday.

Stammen held the Marlins to a run on six hits and struck out six batters over six innings that day, but didn't get any support in a 1-0 setback. He's had trouble breaking into the win column all throughout this season, having notched just two victories in 16 starts in 2010.

The 26-year-old is 1-0 in two previous meetings with the Brewers, both of which took place last season, but was tagged for five runs and nine hits in just 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision at Miller Park on July 27, 2009.

Milwaukee returns home after going 4-4 on an eight-game road trip through Atlanta and Pittsburgh and ended the trek on a good note, coming up with a 3-2 triumph over the Pirates. Yovani Gallardo, making his first start since July 4, tossed six scoreless innings to lead the way.

Gallardo yielded five hits and walked just one while striking out five in improving his season record to 9-4. The All-Star right-hander had been sidelined for the past few weeks with a right oblique strain.

"[Thursday] I threw the ball pretty well," Gallardo said. "I just tried to stay in that rhythm. It's been a couple of weeks."

Rickie Weeks went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and Prince Fielder added a solo blast, his 24th of the season, to help the Brewers avenge two straight losses to the Pirates on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chris Narveson will try to make it two in a row for Milwaukee this evening, and the left-hander also seeks to follow up a solid last start when he toes the rubber in the opener. The 28-year-old held Atlanta to a pair of runs on six hits over six innings this past Saturday to gain the win in the Brewers' 6-3 verdict.

Narveson, who had been tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) and served up three homers in only 3 1/3 innings in his final first-half start, a home setback to San Francisco on July 7, is now 8-6 with a 5.83 ERA in 15 starts and nine relief appearances this year. He's had trouble pitching at Miller Park, though, having compiled a 6.12 ERA in 11 appearances (seven starts).

This will be Narveson's first career encounter with the Nationals in a starting role, but he did earn a win over Washington with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief last August at Nationals Park.

The Nationals took two of three from the Brewers at home from April 16-18, but have lost in nine of their last 11 visits to Miller Park.

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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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