Blackburn's strong mound performance guides Twins past Tribe

Baseball Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Morneau belted his fourth home run of the season, and Nick Blackburn pitched strong seven innings to lead the Minnesota Twins past the Cleveland Indians, 5-1, in the opener of a three-game series.

Jose Morales went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Twins, who improved to 1-2 on a five-game road trip. Jason Kubel, who had a double, and Joe Crede also had an RBI. Denard Span went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.

Blackburn (1-1) gave up just one run on six hits with four strikeouts to collect the win. Blackburn, who beat the Indians all three times he faced them last year, improved his ERA to 4.44.

Grady Sizemore went 2-for-4 and had the lone RBI for the Indians, who dropped to 2-2 on a six-game homestand.

Fausto Carmona (1-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits in a six-plus inning start to absorb the loss.

Ahead 3-1, Minnesota added two runs in the seventh to extend its margin. Back- to-back singles from Morales and Nick Punto set up a first and third with no outs. Rafael Betancourt then took over for Carmona on the hill.

A Span single to third loaded the bases. Alexi Casilla grounded into a force play with Morales being thrown out at home. Morneau grounded out, but advanced the runners to score Punto in the process. Following a Kubel intentional walk, Crede singled to shortstop to knock in Span. Michael Cuddyer went down swinging to end the frame.

Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth frame, respectively, to secure the victory for the Twins.

The Twins drew first blood in the opening inning to take an early 1-0 edge. Span, who singled to right to lead off, advanced to second on Casilla's groundout. After Morneau went down on strikes, Kubel doubled to left field to knock in Span. Carmona got Crede to ground out to end the frame.

Cleveland scored a run in the third to deadlock the tilt. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled off the wall in center field with one out. Sizemore's single to center knocked in Cabrera.

Minnesota put two runs on the board in the fourth. Morneau got things started by ripping a Carmona pitch into the seats in right field. With two outs and Crede on first, Delmon Young reached base as a throwing error by DeRosa allowed Crede to advance to third. Crede scored on a Morales single to left.

Game Notes

The Twins went 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position, while Cleveland went 1-for-5 with RISP...Minnesota was 10-8 last season against the Indians, but won just three of the nine games contested in Cleveland.

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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

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