Arencibia hits two HR's in debut to fuel Jays win over Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.P. Arencibia had a major-league debut to remember, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double and three RBI, as the Toronto Blue Jays belted eight home runs en route to a 17-11 drubbing of the Rays, handing Tampa Bay a season-high fourth straight loss.

Arencibia, a first-round pick by Toronto in the 2007 draft, belted 31 homers in Triple-A Las Vegas this year before getting brought up earlier this week due to an injury to All-Star catcher John Buck (thumb). The 24-year-old backstop hit a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw in the second inning and added a solo blast in the sixth.

The rookie highlighted a barrage of long balls by the hosts, including two from Aaron Hill and one each from Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay and league-leader Jose Bautista in Toronto's fourth win in five games.

Tampa Bay's James Shields (10-10) allowed nine hits -- six homers -- and four walks while yielding eight runs in four innings to snap a personal three-start winning streak. Dan Johnson went 2-for-2 with a homer and four RBI in defeat.

The Blue Jays set a season-high for runs and hits (20) and put on a home run display to extend its 3-2 lead in the third. Lind and Hill opened the inning with shots over the right and left field fences, respectively, and Encarnacion pulled an outside pitch to left for another round-tripper two batters later.

Bautista smashed his MLB-best 34th bomb leading off the fourth, and Hill barely cleared the left-field wall later in the frame to notch his third career multi-homer game.

Toronto starter Brad Mills was pulled after walking B.J. Upton in the fifth with the bases loaded, and the Rays got two more runs in the inning on a Johnson sacrifice fly and Evan Longoria groundout off Brian Tallet (2-4), who got credit for the win for throwing three innings of relief.

Dale Thayer mercifully relieved Shields in the home half and was just as ineffective. The Jays pushed across five runs with two outs, starting with Vernon Wells' bases-loaded infield single and capping it with consecutive two- run hits by Lind and Hill.

Arencibia put the finishing touches on his prolific arrival with an opposite- field shot to right in the sixth, leading to a curtain call from the Rogers Centre crowd.

Overbay topped Johnson's two-run homer in the seventh with a three-run blast in Toronto's half.

The Blue Jays failed to score in the eighth, the only frame in which they were blanked. The Rays plated four in the ninth on a Reid Brignac sac fly, a Travis Snider error on the same play, a Gabe Kapler double and a Willy Aybar groundout.

Yunel Escobar's RBI double in the first inning and Arencibia's first-pitch, two-run homer in the second were countered by run-scoring hits from Upton and Johnson in the third frame.

Game Notes

Bautista has homered in 10 straight series, tying a Blue Jays record set by Carlos Delgado (2001)...Arencibia became the first player since Boston's Daniel Nava (6/12/2010) to hit a home run on his first pitch in the big leagues...The Blue Jays currently lead the majors with 175 homers this season, 30 more than the Red Sox going into their game against the Yankees...Mills, recalled from Las Vegas to take the rotation spot of the injured Jesse Litsch (hip), surrendered five hits, four walks and five runs over four-plus frames in his second start this season...Escobar, Encarnacion and Hill each had three hits for the Blue Jays...Johnson's homer was his first since September 15, 2008.

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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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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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