Matt Rivers has MLB free bet for Thursday on the Atlanta Braves laying 136 at Washington according to BetUs

Scott Olsen is scary at times as the lefty has great stuff when on but he also hasn’t pitched in the bigs in awhile and I really don’t know what to expect from him here. And when I say hasn’t pitched in the bigs in awhile that while equals two months plus so even if Olsen is alright he isn’t lasting that long leaving the mediocre Washington bullpen in a fairly tough spot.

Derek Lowe is probably Atlanta’s fourth starter at best but the sinkerballer has had a successful season and all in all is somewhat trustworthy. When Lowe is laying a ton I will go against him as he does have the ability to get hit and hit hard at times but more times than not Lowe has been pretty solid this season. I’m not saying that Dunn and Zimmerman and the pesky Nats won’t plate a few runs but Bobby Cox’ squad is the superior overall club and should get this rubber game in the nation’s capital.

Heyward, McCann, Chipper, Prado and the Bravos are in first place for a reason and are a cheap enough lay here to take a chance on an average overall slate.

If Olsen is great, which every now and then he can be, then I will tip my cap and take a small one on the chin. But it’s asking a lot in this spot and in the end I will back the superior boys from Hotlanta and just ask them to pull this thing out which they should do.

The pick: Atlanta -136 at Bet Guardian

For more information: All I do is win and that is exactly what I did once again on Wednesday as the monster 400,000* on the Rays minus 1 ½ won in the end. Evan Longoria belted the home run in the 8^th and things have been going as well as can be of late. It’s now 9 of 11 winning days and north of 2 million* of profit, yes north of 2 million*!

Nothing at all changes today as I have a pair of 300,000* underdogs that will rock your world and pound that Crookie yet again! Click now to purchase

Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts edge out the San Diego Chargers as favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.

Courtesy of OddsShark.com: Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Rays host the Tigers, the Pirates play on the road versus the Rockies, and the PGA Tour takes to the links at The Greenbrier Classic.

Meeting up on the diamond . . .

The American League has five games on tap for Thursday, with the Yankees at Cleveland, Oakland at Texas, Baltimore at Kansas City, Seattle at the White Sox, and Detroit at Tampa Bay. The Tigers will send Rick Porcello (4-8, 5.55 ERA) to the mound on Thursday, while the Rays counter with David Price (13-5, 2.90 ERA). Righthander Porcello was tagged with a loss by the Blue Jays last time out, giving up three runs over six innings pitched; Detroit is 1-4 in Porcello’s last five starts. Lefthander Price beat the Indians in his last trip to the mound, allowing three runs on three hits over seven innings.

Over in the National League on Thursday it’ll be Atlanta at Washington, St. Louis at the Mets, Florida at San Francisco, the Dodgers at San Diego, Arizona at Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh at Colorado. Paul Maholm (6-8, 4.13 ERA) will take on Ubaldo Jimenez (15-2, 2.75 ERA) in that last matchup. Lefthander Maholm was beaten by the Padres last time out, surrendering four runs on nine hits over his six innings pitched. Righthander Jimenez was knocked around by the Phillies in his last outing, giving up six runs over just two innings of work. Colorado is just 1-3 in Jimenez’s last four starts, and the Cy Young contender has allowed 20 runs (18 earned) over his last 21 1-3 innings of work.

Rounding out the Roundup . . .

The PGA Tour offers up a new event starting Thursday, with the golfers hitting the links in The Greenbrier Classic at The Old White Course in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Jim Furyk is pegged as the 14/1 Vegas favorite to win The Greenbrier Classic this week, with Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney just behind him on that odds list at 18/1. Sergio Garcia has been given 20/1 odds to claim the tournament title, with both Ricky Barnes and Jeff Overton at 25/1, and Carl Pettersson rounding out the top contenders at 30/1. Pettersson is coming off a victory in the RBC Canadian Open on the weekend.

The Canadian Football League kicks off the fifth week of its regular season on Thursday with Toronto at Montreal. The Argonauts (3-1 SU, 3-1 ATS) came back for a 24-20 home win over British Columbia last time out, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter en route to the win. The Alouettes (3-1 SU, 2-2 ATS) kept pace with the Argos in the Eastern standings with a 37-14 home win over Hamilton in Week 4; Anthony Calvillo threw for 310 yards in that victory. Oddsmakers have the Alouettes pegged as the 10-point home favorites for Thursday’s game, with the total for the day sitting at 52.5 points.

Finally, there are two games on the WNBA’s schedule for Thursday, with San Antonio at Washington and Minnesota at Phoenix. The Mercury beat the Lynx 127-124 on the road as a 2.5-point favorite in their last matchup on July 24. Candice Dupree led Phoenix with 32 points in that victory, while Diana Taurasi was good for 31 points in the contest. Seimone Augustus poured in a game-high 36 points in that losing cause for Minnesota.

Odds to win AFC Championship…

Vince Young won’t be suspended, perhaps making the Titans an interesting long shot to win the AFC,

Rot	To Win	Moneyline
201	Baltimore Ravens	+700
202	Buffalo Bills	+6000
203	Cincinnati Bengals	+1200
204	Cleveland Browns	+5000
205	Denver Broncos	+2500
206	Houston Texans	+1600
207	Indianapolis Colts	+400
208	Jacksonville Jaguars	+3000
209	Kansas City Chiefs	+6000
210	Miami Dolphins	+1600
211	New England Patriots	+600
212	New York Jets	+650
213	Oakland Raiders	+5000
214	Pittsburgh Steelers	+900
215	San Diego Chargers	+500
216	Tennessee Titans	+1400

Top expert picks on today’s card…

Matt Rivers, who was the winningest handicapper ever—nobody came close—on a large network of sites. From the legendary Rivers: All I do is win and that is exactly what I did once again on Wednesday as the monster 400,000* on the Rays minus 1 ½ won in the end. Evan Longoria belted the home run in the 8^th and things have been going as well as can be of late. It’s now 9 of 11 winning days and north of 2 million* of profit, yes north of 2 million*!

Nothing at all changes today as I have a pair of 300,000* underdogs that will rock your world and pound that Crookie yet again! Click now to purchase

With information hotter than Katherine Connors and more accurate than Phil Steele’s NFL picks, it’s time for preseason NFL picks.

NFL betting is back with a vengeance, baby. It won’t be long before preseason action starts up – so we better get going on divisional breakdowns, agreed? We’ll start with the division most people call the roughest, toughest in football: the AFC North. We’ll peruse each team alphabetically.

BALTIMORE RAVENS

NFL futures odds: -135

To me, the only thing holding Baltimore back not just from a divisional or conference title, but from a Super Bowl, could be the age of the defense. Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and company are a bit long in the tooth; how much longer before they break down for good?

The Ravens’ offense should continue its rapid development this year. Rocket-armed Joe Flacco now has two outstanding possession receivers in Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason. Ray Rice may be the best pass-catching back in the league. If Donte Stallworth can emerge as a viable deep threat, they’ll be unstoppable. And how can you not love Flacco in 2010 when he has Michael Oher protecting his, er, Blind Side?

CINCINNATI BENGALS

NFL futures odds: +285

The Cincinnati Bengals are like that kid in high school who does something dumb at a party and can’t shake the reputation no matter what. Even though they’re the reigning AFC North champs – and went 4-0 against Pittsburgh and Baltimore last year – they have the third best odds to win this year.

Why? What did they lose? They had a top-four defense in the league last year and their stud cornerback tandem of Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall returns. Their offense has only added, not subtracted; Carson Palmer now has Terrell Owens, rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham and, if he’s healthy, Antonio Bryant to throw to on top of Chad Ochocinco.

The Bengals may not be the class of the AFC North but they sure as heck aren’t the Bungles anymore.

CLEVELAND BROWNS

NFL futures odds: +825

It’s a long road to respectability for the Cleveland Browns but new team president Mike Holmgren could eventually steer them in the right direction. They had a respectable offseason, bolstering the secondary by drafting Joe Haden and acquiring Sheldon Brown. Their quarterback situation isn’t great with Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, but this sports audio shows site would probably take those two over Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. Well, at least Wallace.

The Browns’ main strength this year could be the running game. Jerome Harrison looked like a star late last year and he could form a nice tandem with rookie Montario Hardesty running behind a good line.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Betting odds: +225

The books are trying to screw you by giving the Steelers the second best odds for the AFC North. It’s not that Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes carried the team by themselves; the Steelers still have an amazing defense and Rashard Mendenhall could get the running game back to where it was in the glory days of Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker.

But with Holmes gone and Ben suspended for four to six games, defenses won’t respect backup Byron Leftwich (or Dennis Dixon, who I think deserves a shot). They can stack the box against Mendenhall. I think the Steelers will find themselves in too deep a hole before Ben returns.

Free pick

I definitely think people underestimate the Bengals – at least as a Wild Card team. But I admittedly think they’ll relinquish the division title to Baltimore this year. The Ravens destruction of New England in the playoffs last year was a sign of things to come. Pick the Ravens.

Next up in our NFL betting divisional previews: the AFC West. It may be another year or two away from being a deep and relevant NFL division but 2010 could mark the first time in a while that every team almost matters.

DENVER BRONCOS

NFL futures odds: +600

It’s been quite the rollercoaster just one year into the Josh McDaniels era. Most sports betting sharps wrote them off entirely at the start of 2009; then they went 6-0 to start the year, largely on the strength of Elvis Dumervil and their powerhouse pass rush. But then the wheels fell off; they couldn’t stop the run and Kyle Orton started being Kyle Orton again.

The Broncos hit the reset button for 2010. Brandon Marshall, their stud receiver, is off to Miami. To rebuild their offense (around Knowshon Moreno, the only useful piece), they took the plunge on Tim Tebow and drafted some young wideouts too. But even if Tebow turns out to be the second coming, it won’t happen this year. The Broncos won’t accomplish much in 2010.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

NFL futures odds: +750

The Chiefs find themselves in similar waters to the Broncos in that they’re slowly assembling pieces but still probably aren’t ready to make a major move up the standings. Charlie Weis should know how to make the most of pieces like Matt Cassel, Dwayne Bowe, Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones as the new offensive co-ordinator.

Kansas City is also making a habit of taking defensive prospects in the first round. But they won’t grow teeth overnight. The Chiefs still need another year for Eric Berry and Tyson Jackson to develop – and we still don’t know if Cassel can be the man behind center even when that happens.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

NFL futures odds: +700

For the first time since Rich Gannon took snaps for them, the Raiders look like they have a chance to be mildly competitive this year. Finally, they made a safe first-round draft pick. Linebacker Rolando McClain has the tools to be a defensive leader for years. The Raiders were already underrated defensively against the pass thanks to Nnamdi Asomugha; maybe McClain, who should start, could bolster the run “D.”

Oakland should score more now that they’ve shoved JaMarcus Russell out the door. Jason Campbell isn’t anything special but he’s efficient and he should make guys like Zach Miller and Darren McFadden a lot better. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Raiders win six or seven games and finish second in the West.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

NFL futures odds: -333

You know you play in a cupcake division when you lose your starting left tackle and Pro Bowl wide receiver and are still favored to run away with it. Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson both look like they’ll hold out for the first 10 games of 2010 but Phillip Rivers is still the man in their offense. He has Antonio Gates and the Chargers’ running game should improve via rookie Ryan Mathews. They didn’t trade up to draft a guy for their bench.

The Chargers defend the pass pretty well but struggle against the run. That could give them some minor headaches against Moreno, Charles and McFadden (or Michael Bush) in divisional play but San Diego is still the team to beat in this division by a mile.

Free pick

You know what to do. Chargers all the way.