11/09/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baseball Writers' Association of America will hand out their first two postseason honors on Monday, as the American and National League Rookies of the Year will be announced.
Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria figures to be the runaway winner in the American League, while Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto should also easily walk away with the award in the Senior Circuit.
Longoria helped guide the Rays to not only their first-ever winning season, but their first AL East title en route to a trip to the World Series, where they lost in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 23-year-old third baseman, despite starting the season in the minors, was selected to the All-Star Game and finished the year with impressive numbers for any major leaguer, let alone a rookie. In just 122 games, Longoria belted 27 homers, drove in 85 runs and scored 67.
Longoria, the third overall pick of the Rays in 2006, will also garner some AL MVP votes next week. However, a broken wrist in early August cost him a little over a month, likely eliminating his chance to join Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) as the only players to win a Rookie of the Year and an MVP Award in the same season.
Tampa Bay has never had a Rookie of the Year award winner.
Other players who will nab some votes include Kansas City shortstop Mike Aviles and Chicago White Sox infielder Alexei Ramirez. Longoria, though, could be the AL's first unanimous selection since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997.
Soto, meanwhile, will be trying to become the fifth Cub to win the award and the first since Kerry Wood in 1998. The 25-year-old backstop, who became the first rookie catcher to start an All-Star Game. batted 285 with 23 homers, 35 doubles and led all rookies with 86 RBI - one more than Longoria.
The Cubs, who won the National League Central for the second straight year, compiled the third-lowest ERA in the league with the young Soto behind the plate.
Should Soto win the award, he would be the first NL catcher to do so since Mike Piazza did it for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993. His 21 homers were also the most by a rookie catcher since Piazza's 35, 15 years ago
Other Cubs to win the award include Billy Williams (1961), Ken Hubbs (1962) and Jerome Walton (1989). Soto is the first Cubs rookie to hit as many as 21 home runs since Williams belted 25 in 1961.
Soto's main competition is expected to come from Atlanta righty Jair Jurrjens and Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto.
Boston's Dustin Pedroia and Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the awards last season.
<< Oklahoma City F Wilcox leaves game
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oklahoma City forward Chris Wilcox left
the Thunder's game Sunday against the Hawks after spraining his right knee in
the first quarter.
Wilcox, who was averaging 7.2 points and 6 rebounds, remai
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Avondale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmie Johnson won Sunday's Checker O'Reilly
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<< Line of Scrimmage: Coaching Carousel to Spin Out of Control
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark your calendars - Black Monday in the
NFL is scheduled for December 29th.
As a long Christmas weekend gives way to pre-New Year's euphoria, it is
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Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning threw for 240 yards and three
touchdowns, including the go-ahead score to Dominic Rhodes with 3:04 to play,
and the Indianapolis Colts hung on for a 24-20 win over the Steelers, their
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Kane, Havlat lead Chicago over Calgary >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrick Kane and Martin Havlat both collected a
goal and two assists, as the surging Chicago Blackhawks trumped the Calgary
Flames, 6-1, at the United Center.
Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg each had a
Hawks remain unbeaten by edging Thunder >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson scored 25 points to help the
Atlanta Hawks remain unbeaten with an 89-85 victory over the Oklahoma City
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Marvin Williams added 16 points for the Hawks, who at 5-0 are off to t
Oilers edge Devils >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers stopped 37-of-38 shots,
and the Edmonton Oilers edged the New Jersey Devils, 2-1.
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Booth picks up hat trick as Panthers top Ducks >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Booth recorded his first hat trick and
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Stephen Weiss and Jassen
LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
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