Baseball Betting

Hapless O's take one from BoSox thanks to Matusz, Markakis

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Matusz tossed seven strong innings and Nick Markakis collected hits and drove in a run, as the Baltimore Orioles stymied the Boston Red Sox, 6-1, to salvage the finale of a three-game series at Fenway Park.

Matusz (3-9) scattered two hits, walked three and struck out eight to record his first win since April 18 at Oakland. The Orioles had dropped 12 of the last 13 games started by the young lefty.

Kevin Youkilis homered to left field off reliever Jason Berken in the ninth inning to end Baltimore's shutout bid.

Boston's John Lackey (9-4) gave up four runs on eight hits in 7 1/3 innings to take the loss.

The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning, when Markakis led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Adam Jones then stroked a single and raced home on a two-out single by Scott Moore.

Baltimore's Miguel Tejada doubled to start the eighth. Julio Lugo entered as a pinch-runner and moved up to third on a Markakis single before a throwing error allowed him to score. Markakis went to third on the miscue and came home on an Adam Jones sacrifice fly.

Lugo recorded an RBI triple in the next inning and scored on a base hit by Markakis to make it 6-0.

Game Notes

Baltimore shortstop Cesar Izturis had three hits...Boston's Terry Francona remains stuck on 899 managerial wins for his career...Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, third baseman Adrian Beltre and designated hitter David Ortiz were named to the 2010 American League All-Star team...Infielder Ty Wigginton will represent Baltimore at the Mid-Summer Classic.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.