Minnesota Twins
The Twins will enter the break right around .500 and still be in contention in the American League Central. That is the good news. The bad news is that after the break, 40 of their remaining 73 games are on the road. Minnesota finished the first half with a 17-24 record on the road and it will come out of the gates with 10 straight road games beginning July 17th.
The National Football League heads north of the border on Thursday night to kick off the second week of its preseason schedule. Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup . . .
Event of the day . . .
The Buffalo Bills are starting to tap into the lucrative Toronto market this season, and it all begins with their exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Rogers Centre on Thursday night (with the kickoff set for 7:30pm ET). And Bills supporters hope that their team will be lucrative at the betting window once again this season.
Buffalo went 7-9 straight-up in 2007, but they were 10-6 against-the-spread. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, was 10-6 SU last year, and only 8-8 ATS. For Thursday night the Vegas oddsmakers have pegged this neutral-site game as a pick’em, despite Buffalo’s proximity to Toronto. The total for the game has been set at 33 points.
Steelers starting QB Ben Roethlisberger should see just limited time on Thursday, with newly-signed backup Byron Leftwich getting more snaps. Don’t expect to see much of RB Willie Parker either. Bills starting QB Trent Edwards will be looking to bounce back from a poor outing in Buffalo’s preseason opener against Washington.
Cole Hamels will be gunning for his 10th win of the year on Tuesday night when the Phillies continue their road series in Los Angeles. Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup …
Event of the day . . .
Philadelphia is still trying to hold off both the Mets and the Marlins in the tight NL East standings, while Los Angeles is looking to overtake the Diamondbacks in the race for top spot in the NL West. Those two clubs will play the second game of their west-coast series on Tuesday night, beginning at 10:10pm ET.
