Canadian MLB report: Francis impresses in big league return

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05/17/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies lefty Jeff Francis made his first major league start since Sept. 12, 2008 on Sunday, lasting seven innings in the Rockies' 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Francis did not factor into the decision but looked very sharp in his big league return. He surrendered seven hits, allowing one run and two walks, while striking out six.

With Jorge De La Rosa on the disabled list, Francis will add a much-needed left-handed arm to the Rockies' pitching staff.

The Vancouver, B.C. native missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder.

Before the injury, Francis had the worst season of his career in 2008, finishing with a 4-10 record, despite allowing three runs or less in his final six starts of the year.

Just a few seasons ago, the lefty helped lead the Rockies to their first World Series appearance in franchise history, setting career-highs with 215 innings pitched, 165 strikeouts and 17 wins in '07.

From 2005-2007, Francis went an impressive 44-32 and solidified himself as a staple at the front of the team's rotation.

WARM WELCOMES

Michael Saunders - The Seattle Mariners promoted the 23-year-old Saunders from Triple-A Tacoma on May 6.

Since his arrival, Saunders has appeared in eight games, with three multi-hit efforts and two home runs along the way. The Vancouver, B.C. native is batting .296 with six RBI in 27 at bats this year. Saunders could see an extended look if he remains productive in the Mariners' slumping offense. If the Milton Bradley experiment proves to be a failure for Seattle, Saunders could very well become the everyday left fielder.

In his rookie season in '09, the outfielder appeared in 46 games, batting just .221 in 122 at bats. Saunders already has more RBI this season than he did all of last year.

Adam Stern - Stern, the 30-year-old from London, ON, made his first appearance in the big leagues this season on May 14, after being called up by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Stern hadn't played since the '07 season, where he appeared in two games with the Baltimore Orioles, never drawing an at bat. The outfielder has logged 49 games in the big leagues, spending most of his baseball career in the minors. He made his MLB debut in 2005 with the Boston Red Sox.

STREAKING

Russell Martin - The Dodgers backstop provided the lone run in the Dodgers 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday, with an RBI single in the sixth, to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Despite the streak, Martin is batting .264 on the season with four home runs and 12 RBI.

He is coming off his worst season in the majors in '09, when the catcher batted .250. Before last year, Martin had hit at least .280 in each of his three MLB seasons.

Jason Bay - After starting the month of May 2-for-17 at the plate, Bay has put together a 10-game hitting streak, with four multi-hit games during that span. Since the beginning of his streak on May 7, Bay has raised his average from .238 to .277.

While the hitting is welcome after a slow start to the season, Bay has lacked in the power department, going deep just once this year.

Justin Morneau - There is no stopping Morneau right now, as the left-handed slugger was leading the American League at weekend's end in average, on-base percentage, OPS and is second in walks and slugging percentage. Morneau is batting .362 with 9 homers and 25 RBI.

The Twins first baseman has three home runs in his last eight games, a stretch that included four straight multi-hit games.

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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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