Home Cooking: Cubs target seventh straight home win against Brewers

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07/04/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs have picked the perfect time to get hot. Today, they try to win their seventh straight game at home and their fourth consecutive game overall, as they continue a four-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs moved back over .500 and closed to within 2 1/2 games of first place in the NL Central on Friday when Jake Fox drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Ryan Theriot in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting Chicago to a 2-1 win.

Theriot finished 2-for-5, while Mike Fontenot and Koyie Hill each had two hits apiece for the Cubs, who are in the midst of their longest home winning streak since taking 14 straight in the Windy City from May 18-June 22, 2008.

Carlos Zambrano went an effective seven innings, but did not factor in the decision. The burly right-hander allowed one run on five hits, struck out three and walked the same number of batters. He also had an RBI single. Kevin Gregg (3-2) was credited with the win after working two scoreless innings.

"We got good pitching, kept us in the ball game ," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Zambrano, (Aaron) Heilman, Gregg. To hold that team down to one run, you're pitching well."

Corey Hart accounted for the lone Milwaukee run with a bases loaded walk. The Brewers have dropped three straight. Craig Counsell had a hit and scored in defeat.

The loss was also Milwaukee's fifth straight on the road, where it hasn't lost six in a row since a nine-game slide from May 2-18, 2008.

Jeff Suppan pitched to a no-decision after going seven solid innings. He gave up a run on four hits, walked a pair and fanned four.

"We got to start hitting day games after night games, because the last two day games after night games we were shutout and today we got one run, a walk with the bases loaded," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. "So, we have to change that up a little bit. But 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, you aren't going to win many games doing that."

Heading to the hill for the Cubs today will be right-hander Rich Harden, who is 5-4 with a 4.57 ERA. Harden won for the first time since May 12 on Monday in Pittsburgh, as he held the Pirates to a run and nine hits in seven innings. He also struck out nine and walked a batter.

Harden did not get a decision the last time he faced the Brewers, but is 1-0 in three starts against them, surrendering just three runs over 18 innings of those outings.

Milwaukee will counter with righty Braden Looper, who is 6-4 this season with a 4.90 ERA. Looper earned the win against the New York Mets on Monday, as he held them to one earned run and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Looper has faced the Cubs 41 times (nine starts) and is 3-6 with a 2.57 ERA.

Milwaukee has lost five of its eight meetings with the Cubs this season, but won in five of its nine visits to Wrigley a year ago.

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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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