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With all the injury problems the Philadelphia Phillies are dealing with, most people said the Boston Red Sox were the favorites to win the World Series. And maybe they are – the Phillies were the Bodog betting favorites slightly. But Red Sox Nation already is reaching for the panic button with Boston at 0-3 heading into tonight’s matchup with Cleveland. The Red Sox are -160 favorites tonight on Bodog’s MLB odds.

Boston wasn’t just swept over the weekend by Texas – the Red Sox were clubbed, losing the three games a combined 26-11. It was the first time Boston has lost its first three games since 1996, which also happened in Texas. It should be noted that the 2004 Red Sox had four losing streaks of at least three games, and the 2007 Sox had six of them. Both teams won the World Series. And now Boston turns to what once was the team’s ace in Josh Beckett. But he was awful when healthy last year, going 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA. In spring training, Beckett gave up 28 hits and 15 earned runs over 25 1/3 innings. This will be his first start in Cleveland since Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS when he was brilliant and saved the Red Sox’s season. The Red Sox haven't dropped four in a row to start a season since they started the 1996 campaign 0-5.

The Indians are 1-2 but scored 20 runs in their series against Chicago. The Tribe start righty Josh Tomlin tonight. He beat out David Huff and Jeanmar Gomez for the lone vacancy in the Tribe's rotation during spring training. Last year, Tomlin became just the second Indians pitcher since 1920 to last at least five innings in his first 12 career starts.

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Im just excited to see something other than basketball!

It’s hard to call any game during the season’s second week a must-win, but Wednesday’s game in Cleveland almost has to be called that for the 0-4 Boston Red Sox. They are a -160 favorite against the Tribe on Bodog’s MLB odds.

This sounds silly, but no team has ever started 0-4 and won the World Series. The offense has been the main culprit for the slow start. Carl Crawford, for example, is really struggling. He already has hit in three different spots in the lineup and is 2-for-15 and yet to score even a run. And Boston’s Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters in the batting order are 4 for 37 so far this year. That’s a .108 average. The Red Sox have scored two runs on 10 hits in their last 20 innings. Take away Dustin Pedroia, who is 5 of 15, and Boston is batting.167 as a team. Of the team’s nine starting position players, six (Jacoby Ellsbury, Crawford, J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Marco Scutaro) are hitting below .200. This is Boston’s first 0-4 start since 1996.

So now the Red Sox turn to their No. 5 starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka to stop the skid. Matsuzaka tied Josh Beckett for the most innings in Red Sox camp this spring (25 1/3) and posted a 4.97 ERA in six starts. The Indians turn to Mitch Talbot for his first start of the year. He wasn’t very good this spring with an 8.61 ERA in six starts, but he's coming off a year in which he finished tied for second in the American League in wins (10) among rookies.

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The Boston Red Sox were desperate for a win, who better to break the slump than against AL nemesis New York?

The Red Sox were 0-6, the worst start since World War II. But Dustin Pedroia homered and drove in three runs to get the 9-6 win over the Yankees.

Finally grabbing a win against its AL East rival will definitely give bettors reason to take a shot on their 11/2 odds. With additions like base-stealing outfielder Carl Crawford and talented first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez the Red Sox were an early pre-season bet to win it all.

Though the big win is promising, the victory won’t curb any fears about a disappointing season. Starting pitcher John Lackey gave up six runs in five innings to the Yankee hitters and was lucky to get a win after Jerrod Saltalamacchia broke a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the fifth.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon, coming off his worst season in his career, was able to close out the contest without a hitch.

With the big Yankee bats playing a Fenway Park again on Saturday and Sunday, the Sox starters will have to improve considerably to win this series.

When asked before the game about Boston's 0-6 start, Yankees manager Joe Girardi noted he was with the 1998 Yankees who opened 1-4 and went on to win the World Series.

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Shocking news on Friday as Manny Ramirez, who would be a lock Hall of Famer if for not his admitted steroid use, has decided to retire just a few games into his new season with the Tampa Bay Rays. And it appears that Ramirez quit because he might have run afoul of the MLB drug policy again.

"Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," an MLB statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

The statement did not say whether Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance. He has previously served a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy while he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The retirement comes on the heels of Ramirez sitting out Thursday’s loss to the White Sox because of what the team termed as a “personal thing.” He didn’t accompany the team originally to Chicago for the series against the White Sox but was supposed to rejoin the team and likely play tonight.

Ramirez is a 12-time All-Star who goes down as one of the best right-handed hitters ever. He has a .312 career batting average with 1,831 RBIs and 555 homers. But clearly his time had passed probably two seasons ago. Last year in 90 games combined with the Dodgers and White Sox, he had just nine homers and 42 RBIs. And in just five games this season with the Rays, Ramirez was hitting .059 (1-for-17) with one RBI. It’s the latest blow for a Tampa Bay team that is last in the majors in most offensive categories and 0-6 entering Friday’s game against the White Sox.

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Well, Red Sox Nation can hold off on that panic button for one day at least, as the Red Sox ended their six-game losing streak to start the season with a 9-6 win in their home opener on Friday against the archrival New York Yankees. And now Boston turns to Clay Buchholz on Saturday for its first winning streak of the season. The Red Sox opened as -145 favorites on Bodog’s MLB baseball betting odds.

In order to shake up a struggling offense, Boston juggled its lineup on Friday. Carl Crawford hit leadoff for the first time as a Red Sox. Crawford hit third for the first two games, then hit seventh once and second three times. But it didn’t shake Crawford out of his doldrums Friday as he was 0-for-5 and is now hitting .143. Former leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury was moved to eighth as he was in a 1-for-16 slump. He did have one hit on Friday. Dustin Pedroia was the big star with three hits, including his first homer and first three RBIs of the year. Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-5 in his Fenway debut.

The Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez had his third homer of the young season Friday and his RBI was his 1,836th career, moving him past Rafael Palmeiro and pulling him even with Ken Griffey Jr. for 13th place on baseball's all-time list. Brett Gardner had a triple, a double, two walks, a stolen base, two runs scored and an RBI.

Saturday’s pitching matchup features New York’s Ivan Nova against Boston’s Buchholz. Nova (1-0, 4.50) made a quality start Monday night against the Twins, allowing three runs in six innings to pick up a win in his season debut. He struck out three and walked one. Buchholz (0-1, 5.68) was victimized by the long ball in his first start, giving up four solo homers in a loss to the Rangers. He allowed only nine homers all last year. Lifetime against New York, he is 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA in five starts.

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Regardless of whether there even is an NFL season this year thanks to labor strife, the folks at Electronic Arts will be releasing the mega-popular Madden video game later this summer. And in recent years it has become one of the most intriguing prop bets on which player the EA folks go with on the cover. And you can bet on it at Bodog for the 2012 version.

This year the company and ESPN’s SportsNation did something new, coming up with a March Madness-style bracket voting contest. Essentially, there was one player from each NFL team on which fans can/could vote through March and April. The 32 players were matched up in 16 “games” to start and the players with the most votes advance in the tournament. We are down to the Elite Eight so far. The last player standing on April 25 will be the cover boy with the winner announced on ESPN2. For the current round, fans can vote once per day until April 11.

The favorite at Bodog is Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The MVP of Super Bowl XLV, Rodgers had one of the most decisive opening-round victories after acquiring 72% of the vote when pitted up against the 2010 AP Defensive Player of the Year, Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions. Rodgers, who then crushed Rams QB Sam Bradford in the Sweet 16, is currently 4/7 to be the cover boy. Rodgers is matched up against Patriots running back Danny Woodhead in the Elite Eight. Other matchups are: Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles vs. Browns running back Peyton Hillis, Saints QB Drew Brees vs. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (Brees was on the cover last year) and Eagles QB Michael Vick vs. 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis. Vick is the second favorite at 7/4, while Willis is the longest shot at 30/1.

The Final Four voting starts on April 11 for a week and the championship match starts April 18.

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The San Francisco Giants were never below .500 last season on the way to winning the franchise’s first World Series since moving to the West Coast. On Monday night against the archrival Dodgers, the team can get to the break even number for the first time this season. San Francisco is a slight -108 favorite on Bodog’s MLB odds.

Both clubs enter off a loss. The Dodgers fell 7-2 to San Diego on Sunday. The L.A. offense has been off all season. For example, Juan Uribe is batting .111, James Loney .143, Rafael Furcal .208, Rod Barajas .222, Aaron Miles .143 and Marcus Thames .182. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have been carrying the lineup. But the Dodgers have been held to four or fewer runs in seven of their nine games. Furcal has missed the past two games with a sore wrist and is iffy tonight.

San Francisco was thwarted in its attempt to sweep the Cardinals on Sunday, falling 6-1. But manager Bruce Bochy rested many of his regulars in that one as it was a day game following a Saturday night one. And the Giants won’t have outfielder Andres Torres tonight or likely for a while as he has a mild left Achilles’ strain. He will be re-evaluated Wednesday to determine whether he goes on the DL.

The pitching matchup looks to favor Los Angeles. The Dodgers start lefty Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 2.08). He blanked the Giants for seven innings on Opening Day and hasn't allowed a run in his last 17 innings against San Francisco. Meanwhile, the Giants go with lefty Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 9.00). He lasted only one batter into the fourth inning in his lone 2011 start.

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Almost everything that could go right had gone right for the Texas Rangers so far this season – for example, they became the only the second franchise ever to start 9-1 the year after reaching a World Series.

But the Major League Baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, and a crushing injury hit the reigning American League champions on Tuesday. Josh Hamilton, last season’s AL MVP, is going to miss 6-8 weeks after injuring his shoulder on a headfirst slide into home plate while trying to avoid a tag in a 5-4 loss to Detroit – the Rangers’ second loss of the season.

Hamilton suffered a small, non-displaced fracture of the humerus bone in his right arm. And this injury could be very controversial because it didn’t seem necessary. Hamilton said third-base coach Dave Anderson sent him home when he noticed the pitcher wasn’t covering home plate on a pop up by Adrian Beltre in foul territory just in front of the Tigers’ dugout. Hamilton was not happy with the decision.

"It was just a stupid play," Hamilton said. "I definitely shouldn't have done it. … “I listened to my third-base coach. That’s a little too aggressive. The whole time I was watching the play I was listening. [He said],'Nobody’s at home, nobody’s at home.’ I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t want to do this. Something’s going to happen.’ But I listened to my coach. And how do you avoid a tag the best? By going in head first and get out of the way and get in there. That’s what I did.”

Anderson said the club tries to take advantage of every opportunity it can to be aggressive and try to score a run. But in the first inning with your injury prone MVP? GM Jon Daniels said that David Murphy will become the Rangers' starter in left field while Hamilton is out, which the team is expecting to be eight weeks.

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The verdict is in. And former Giants slugger Barry Bonds has been found guilty of obstruction of justice.

Bonds did dodge a few legal bullets however, the prosecution and defense agreed to a mistrial on the three remaining counts — which included lying to a grand jury when he denied knowingly taking steroids.

According to ESPN, the judge said she believes the mistrial is the proper decision given that the jury believes it has reached a crossroads.

Bonds was charged with three counts of lying to a grand jury and one count of obstruction. The prosecutors allege that Bonds lied when he denied knowingly taking steroids and HGH (aka human growth hormones). The third was "making a false statement," saying that Bonds lied when he said no one other than his doctor ever injected him with anything.

The max Bonds could face for the obstruction of justice charge is 10 years in prison. We'll see if they throw the book at him.

The recent case and verdict stems from a federal investigation that began in 2002 on the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which was dishing out roids to athletes.

Early in his 20-plus MLB career Bonds was known as a player who could hit as well as steal bases in bunches. As years went by and HGH became a popular drug among athletes, Bonds became a home run machine, hitting 73 on one record breaking season. He also broke Hank Aaron's 755 home run record with 762.

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It has been a relatively good week so far for the team with the worst record in baseball, the Boston Red Sox. Good in that they have only lost twice so far. Of course, they only played twice and dropped back-to-back home games to Tampa Bay by a combined score of 19-7 before being rained out Wednesday and off on Thursday. Now they welcome Toronto to Fenway for the first time this season and Boston is a -170 favorite on Bodog’s baseball odds.

Red Sox players had been saying all season that they would snap out of it and it wasn’t time to panic. But that has finally changed with David Ortiz admitting “everybody’s worried” on the team. The Red Sox are in the bottom third of baseball in runs. New big-money acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are hitting a combined .206. Meanwhile, Boston’s team ERA of 6.77 is by far the worst – no other team is above 6.00. Red Sox pitchers have allowed an MLB-high 21 home runs and they have just three quality starts through the first 11 games.

Thus tonight’s start is a big one for Clay Buchholz. After winning 17 games with a 2.33 ERA last year and getting a big new extension, he is 0-2 with a 7.22 ERA in 2011.

The Blue Jays ended a four-game losing streak in their last game, beating Seattle 8-3 on Wednesday to avoid a sweep. Toronto managed by former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, who was with the team from 2007-10. The Jays start lefty Brett Cecil (0-1, 7.20). He is 2-3 with a 6.51 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox.

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The Texas Rangers have exploded out of the gate this season. They’ll face the New York Yankees on the MLB betting board in a three-game stint beginning Friday.

Texas, however, has finally started slowing down. The Rangers have lost back-to-back games and, if that wasn’t enough, the lineup suffered a major blow in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Tigers. Slugger Josh Hamilton suffered a small fracture to his humerus when sliding home, and he’ll miss the next six to eight weeks.

On the mound, Texas is expected to throw a trio of undefeated pitchers at New York: Matt Harrison (2-0, 1.29 ERA), Derek Holland (2-0, 2.25 ERA) and Alexi Ogando (2-0, 0.00 ERA). The rotation was supposed to be a major question mark this season, but so far, so good.

Harrison spent most of last season working out of the bullpen, but his transition back to the rotation has gone quite well. Holland, another youngster, has tweaked his delivery to add some deception to his pitches; it’s obviously working so far. Ogando has just two career starts under his belt. Keep a close eye on him, as he was removed from his last start with a blister on his throwing hand.

While Texas has gotten some surprisingly great pitching, New York is still searching for answers in the rotation. The Yanks will likely start Ivan Nova (1-0, 6.10 ERA), Freddy Garcia (0-0, 9.00 ERA) and CC Sabathia (0-1, 1.45 ERA) against the Rangers.

Nova lucked into a win against Boston last week despite an awful outing; he allowed four runs in just 4.1 innings of work. Garcia, the fifth starter, will be making his first start of the season. He’s pitched just one inning this year—he allowed a run to the Red Sox—but hasn’t been needed to start because of various off days and rainouts. Sabathia has been his usual brilliant self, but he has suffered from poor run support and lousy bullpen efforts.

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The Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies are both expected to compete for the NL pennant this season. They hook up on the MLB betting board this week with a three-game series that begins Monday.

Philadelphia is expected to send Joe Blanton (0-1, 10.45 ERA) to the mound Monday, followed by the top of the rotation with Roy Halladay (2-0, 1.23 ERA) and Cliff Lee (2-1, 4.19 ERA). Blanton has been miserable in his first two starts, allowing 12 runs and 17 hits through just 10.1 innings of work. The righty claims it was a mechanical problem, one he has since fixed. We’ll find out Monday.

Halladay has raced out of the gate, reminding everyone he’s the best pitcher in baseball. The ace threw a complete game in a 3-2 win over Washington last week, and he’s averaging a strikeout per inning. Lee, meanwhile, bounced back from an awful start to completely dominate the Nationals; he tossed a three-hit shutout last week, including 12 strikeouts.

Milwaukee stumbled out of the gate, losing its first four games. The club has looked much better since then, and it’s no coincidence that Shawn Marcum has returned from injury during that time. Marcum (2-1, 2.55 ERA) was brought in from Toronto to solidify the rotation, and he’s done his job so far. The righthander threw seven shutout innings in his last start.

Randy Wolf (1-2, 4.32 ERA) and Chris Narveson (1-0, 1.45 ERA) will also face Philadelphia. Wolf bombed in his first start of the season, but he’s allowed just two runs in his past two starts, including 6.2 shutout innings against Pittsburgh last week. Narveson has been completely robbed this season; he’s allowed just three runs all year but finds himself with just one victory.

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The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays will face each other for a quick two-game stint on the MLB betting board this week, as the AL East rivals collide in Toronto on Tuesday and Wednesday.

New York (9-5) is expected to start former Blue Jay A.J. Burnett and Bartolo Colon. Burnett (3-0, 4.67 ERA) has been solid if unspectacular this season—he’s at least given the Yanks a chance to win in all three of his starts, and the offense has come through every time. Burnett allowed four runs in 6.1 innings of work in last week’s 7-4 win over Baltimore.

Colon (0-1, 3.97 ERA) is replacing the injured Phil Hughes in the starting rotation. He’s pitched three times this season in relief; he has a great strikeout to walk ratio (13 strikeouts to three walks) but he was lit up in his first two appearances. He threw three shutout innings against the Orioles last week, though.

The lineup has been ridiculous in terms of power; the Yankees already have 27 home runs, eight more than the next closest team. They’re averaging 5.5 runs per game.

The Blue Jays will likely counter with Kyle Drabek and Brett Cecil on the mound. Drabek (1-0, 1.93 ERA) was the centerpiece of the Roy Halladay trade a few years ago, and he’s been nothing short of spectacular so far this season; the first-year righty hasn’t allowed more than two runs in a game. The Jays have won all three of his starts, including his two-run, 5.2-inning effort against the Mariners last week.

Cecil (1-1, 6.19 ERA) finally found a bit of a groove last week. Another young, potential star in the Jays’ rotation, Cecil allowed three runs in six innings against the Red Sox after struggling through his first two outings.

The Jays are averaging 4.6 runs per game. After leading the Majors in homers last season, they have just a dozen so far this year. Last year’s home run leader, Jose Bautista, has three dingers in 12 games.

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Frequent playoff rivals will collide on the MLB betting board this week when the Boston Red Sox visit the Los Angeles Angels. They kick off a four-game series on Thursday night.

Boston got off to a miserable start this season, losing its first six games. The Sox haven’t exactly been on fire since then, but they’ve at least stopped the bleeding.

Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey are expected to take the mound for Boston this week. Beckett (2-1, 1.80 ERA) has bounced back from last year’s awful campaign in a big way; he was great against the Jays last week, allowing just a single run through seven innings while striking out nine.

Lester (1-1, 3.20 ERA) has also carried his weight since getting lit up in the season opener, including an 8-1 victory over Toronto in his last start (Lester allowed a single run through six innings). The real problem has been Matsuzaka (1-2, 6.43 ERA) and Lackey (1-2, 9.82 ERA).

Both were horrendous in their first two starts of the season but, on the bright side, they’re both coming off fine outings. Dice-K threw seven shutout innings against the Jays, while Lackey took a loss to Oakland despite allowing just one run through six innings.

Los Angeles is playing a bit better than anyone might have expected this season. The pitching staff deserves credit for the hot start, as Los Angeles has one of the lowest ERAs in the American League.

Tyler Chatwood, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Matt Palmer are slated to start against Boston. Haren (4-0, 1.16 ERA) has been nothing short of incredible. The righty already has four victories this season, and he had his “worst” game of the year last week—when he allowed two runs in 6.1 innings during a win over the White Sox. His strikeout to walk ratio is absolutely absurd at 27:2.

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The New York Yankees are off to a great start, but the Chicago White Sox—who many MLB betting fans picked as a sleeper this season—have stumbled out of the gate. They wrap up a four-game series on Thursday night.

New York will close out the series with ace CC Sabathia. While there have been some major issues in New York’s rotation—look no further than the “dead armed” Phil Hughes—Sabathia has been his typical, brilliant self.

The hefty lefty doesn’t have much to show for it, though. He’s 1-1 despite a sparkling 2.73 ERA. The Yankees have won three of the five games Sabathia has started, and he allowed just a single run in the two combined losses. Sabathia was solid if unspectacular last week, giving up six hits and three runs in eight innings of work against the Orioles. Sabathia struck out seven batters in the 15-3 victory.

Facing the White Sox might be exactly what Sabathia needs to pad his win total. He’s dominated the Sox in the past, going 16-4 with a 3.82 ERA in 29 career starts against Chicago, including averaging a strikeout per inning.

Chicago will counter with Edwin Jackson. The righthander had pitched pretty well this season, at least until last week’s start against Detroit. Jackson was batted around, allowing 12 hits and eight runs (seven earned) in just 5.2 innings of work. Jackson struggled with his control, allowing four walks during his short afternoon. He could use a little run support, though. The White Sox have failed to score even a single run in Jackson’s last two starts.

Facing the Yankees is probably the last thing Jackson wants to see after getting shelled in his last start. The veteran is 2-5 in 15 career appearances (11 starts) against the Bronx Bombers, with a bloated 4.83 ERA.

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The New York Mets were supposed to be the New York Mess this year, with many expected that after all the offseason negativity surrounding this team would leave them at the bottom of the National League standings. Credit to the Mets (11-13) as the enter Thursday’s series finale in Washington on a six-game winning streak and are favored on Bodog’s MLB odds to make it seven straight.

In Wednesday’s 6-3 victory, the Mets scored once in the eighth and four times in the ninth to rally. Daniel Murphy was the hero with a game-tying, pinch-hit homer in the eighth (the Nats took a one-run lead again in the bottom of the frame) and then a two-run double in the ninth. It was the first time in more than 19 months the Mets trailed on the road in the ninth and rallied to win. The previous time was Sept. 25, 2009, when they scored twice in the ninth to win 6-5 at Florida. The Mets' winning streak is their longest since an eight-game run June 10-17, 2010.They are 6-0 since Jason Bay was activated from the disabled list. He is hitting .391 after struggling mightily last year.

New York turns to Chris Capuano (2-1, 5.95) tonight. The lefty is coming off his best outing of the season, firing seven innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts in the Mets' 9-1 win over the Astros on April 21. Mets pitchers have a 2.16 ERA during the winning streak. Washington goes with ageless Livan Hernandez (2-2, 3.48). He gave up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits over six innings with four walks and two strikeouts in a loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday in his last start.

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It’s early in the season, but the Philadelphia Phillies are living up to their hype as World Series contenders. They’ll take on the division-rival New York Mets in a three-game series on the MLB betting board this weekend. Philly took two of three from New York earlier this season.

Philadelphia will open the series Friday with Joe Blanton, then come back to the top of the rotation with Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Blanton (0-1, 5.92 ERA) has ugly numbers, but he’s been much better over his past two starts, allowing just four runs over 14 innings. Blanton's role in the Phillies' rotation, surrounded by four All-Stars, has been a topic of conversation since the offseason. Will he use this opportunity to prove that he deserves his spot?

Halladay (3-1, 2.41 ERA) has pitched brilliantly in all but one start this season. After getting shelled against Milwaukee on April 19, Halladay bounced back last week, giving up just a single earned run and striking out 14 in 8.2 innings of work against San Diego.

Lee (2-2, 4.18 ERA) has three double-digit strikeout games in five starts this season—including 12 last week—but he gave up four runs in seven innings of a 4-0 loss to Arizona in his most recent outing.

The Mets will send Mike Pelfrey, Jonathon Niese and Chris Young to the mound. Young (1-0, 2.65 ERA) has easily been the best of the bunch, though he was chased in his last start after giving up three runs in 4.2 innings.

Pelfrey (1-2, 7.23 ERA) and Niese (1-3, 5.10 ERA) have both struggled at times. After giving up three-plus runs in each of his first four starts, Pelfrey might be back on track; he allowed just a single run in seven innings against the Diamondbacks in his last start. Niese has allowed just four earned runs in his past 13 innings, so he’s been better as well.

Philly exploded for 39 hits and 22 runs in a three-game series with the Mets earlier this season. The team hit .358, while Placido Polanco hit .462 with eight RBIs. The Mets had 32 hits and 14 runs in the series while batting a respectable .296.

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The Tampa Bay Rays will get back their best player on Tuesday as third baseman Evan Longoria will be activated from the disabled list and play against the Toronto Blue Jays – bet on the game with Bodog’s MLB odds.

Longoria (oblique) expects to be "close to 100 percent" physically when activated. He is set to play his fourth and final game at Double-A Montgomery on Monday night. He has been sidelined since the first week of the regular season because of a left oblique strain suffered in the second game of the year.

Tampa Bay has been surging. The Rays dropped eight of their first nine games but rebounded to become the first team in baseball history to lose its first six games and post a winning record in April. The Rays will enter Tuesday's game second in the American League East Division with a 15-13 record. Think where they may have been with Longoria. He has a career.328 batting average, 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 63 career games in April.

"It definitely makes it a lot easier to come back into a lineup where everybody has been hitting for the most part and they've been putting runs on the board," he said.

Longoria says he'll want to be out there every night, but Manager Joe Maddon may opt to bring him back into the mix slowly with a day off here and there. Longoria is 3-for-11 with two homers in his Double-A stint. He was an All-Star last year and hit .294 with 22 homers, 104 RBIs and won a Gold Glove.

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The Milwaukee Brewers are sliding down the NL pennant odds after a sluggish start to the season. The Brew Crew, who currently have 11/1 odds to win the National League, begin a four-game stint with the Atlanta Braves on Monday.

Milwaukee hasn’t delivered yet after a promising offseason. The club already boasted a fearsome lineup while revamping the pitching rotation. At least a small part of the problem has been the absence of Zack Greinke. The former Kansas City Royal has been injured but will make his debut against Atlanta. Marco Estrada, Yovani Gallardo and Shaun Marcum are also slated to go against the Braves.

Greinke, of course, won a Cy Young award with the Royals. The youngster is supposed to lead a strong trio of himself, Gallardo and Marcum. Marcum (3-1, 2.21 ERA) was imported from the Blue Jays and has played brilliantly; the righty has enjoyed shutout performances in three of his seven starts this season.

Gallardo (2-1, 5.70 ERA), on the other hand, has been puzzling. The righty has a 3.81 career ERA and averages over a strikeout per inning, but he simply hasn’t had his best stuff this season. Gallardo has allowed four runs or more in each of his past four starts.

The Braves have 12/1 NL pennant odds and were a sleeper pick by some pundits. Atlanta is also struggling a bit out of the gate. A turnaround isn’t likely in the immediate future after a series of off-the-field incidents.

Pitching coach Roger McDowell has been placed on administrative leave as the team investigates an incident in San Francisco last week that allegedly involved homophobic slurs and obscene gestures and threats to some Giants fans. As if that wasn’t enough, right-handed pitcher Derek Lowe was arrested for DUI last Thursday night.

Jair Jurrjens (2-0, 1.23 ERA), Tommy Hanson (3-3, 2.57 ERA), Tim Hudson (3-2, 3.48 ERA) and Brandon Beachy (1-1, 3.47 ERA) are expected to pitch against the Brewers.

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