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07/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the American League's worst teams during the season's first half, the Cleveland Indians, have suddenly become one of baseball's hottest clubs since the All-Star break. The red-hot Tribe will attempt to lock down a seventh straight victory and record a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins when the two AL Central inhabitants face one another today at Target Field.
Cleveland has won each of its first six contests of the second half, its longest win streak since a seven-game tear from September 15-22, 2008. The surge has come against pretty good competition as well, as the Indians won all four meetings with contending Detroit before their back-to-back bestings of the defending AL Central champion Twins.
"We're playing really good baseball," designated hitter Travis Hafner said after last night's 4-3 victory over Minnesota. "Our starting pitching has been really good, and our bullpen has been lights out. It seems like we're able to get some key hits, a lot of two-out RBI."
Hafner came up with a big hit on Tuesday, an RBI double off Twins reliever Jose Mijares (1-1) in the top of the eighth inning that snapped a 3-3 deadlock. Joe Smith then held Minnesota scoreless in the bottom of the frame before closer Chris Perez finished off the win with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Minnesota had knotted the score at 3-3 on consecutive run-scoring singles by Denard Span and Orlando Hudson in the seventh. Both hits came against Rafael Perez (3-0), who came on in relief of Indians starter Justin Masterson and wound up with the win despite failing to protect his team's lead.
Masterson was charged with three runs allowed over 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven batters in an otherwise-solid performance. Shelley Duncan had a two- run single for Cleveland, with both Hafner and rookie catcher Carlos Santana collecting a pair of hits on the evening.
Minnesota is tied with the Tigers at 3 1/2 games behind Chicago for first place in the AL Central after Tuesday's setback. The Twins had won three straight meetings with the White Sox over the weekend prior to this series.
Coming off very encouraging last start, Francisco Liriano will attempt to enable Minnesota to avert a series sweep when he takes the mound this afternoon.
Liriano recorded four losses and a no-decision over a rough five-start stretch to finish out his first half, while compiling a poor 6.75 earned run average during that period. A few extra days of rest seemed to benefit the talented southpaw, however, as he returned to the win column with a sharp performance against the division-leading White Sox this past Friday.
Chicago managed just two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings against Liriano, with the Minnesota hurler registering eight strikeouts in the 7-4 verdict. The strong effort lowered the Dominican native's ERA to 2.83 in nine starts at Target Field, where he's posted a 4-3 record thus far at the first-year park.
In his final outing prior to the break, Liriano was rocked for seven runs in 1 2/3 innings of a July 9 defeat at Detroit.
The 26-year-old owns a 4-3 mark with a 3.61 ERA over 10 career appearances (eight starts) against Cleveland, and bested the Indians twice earlier this season. In an April 21 clash at Target Field, Liriano fired eight scoreless innings in leading the Twins to a 6-0 win.
Jake Westbrook gets the call for Cleveland today and like Liriano, had a successful showing in his first start after the All-Star break. The veteran righty held Detroit to two runs and struck out five batters through 5 2/3 effective innings on Friday for his fourth victory in six decisions.
After making a mere five starts over the past two seasons due to Tommy John surgery, Westbrook has put up decent numbers for the last-place Indians and drawn interest from contending teams as the trade deadline approaches. The 32- year-old improved to 6-5 with a 4.67 ERA in 19 starts with Friday's result.
Westbrook will be facing the Twins for the first time since the 2008 campaign today and is 7-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 23 career encounters (17 starts) with Minnesota.
These divisional foes have now split eight overall matchups so far in 2010, with the Indians having won three of the five games played between the clubs at Target Field.
<< White Sox shoot for another win over Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A trip to the West Coast and a couple of matchups with a
struggling Seattle squad seems to have gotten the Chicago White Sox back on
track. The current American League Central leaders will try to remain unbeaten
against
<< Phillies try to get on track against hosting Cardinals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This current road trip for the Philadelphia Phillies has
been a complete disaster and they'll try to regroup tonight in the third
installment of a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals from Busch
Stadium.
The P
<< Boston to get some extra help in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Injuries to a number of key performers have caused the
Boston Red Sox to lose ground in the American League playoff race. They'll get
one of those players back this afternoon, however, with standout pitcher Clay
Buchhol
<< Undefeated Roughriders battle Stampeders
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last of the unbeatens in the Canadian
Football League try to keep their record unblemished this weekend as the
Saskatchewan Roughriders clash with the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium
in Alberta.
As i
Tigers aim to snap seven-game slide, avoid sweep versus the Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers hope to put an end to their seven-game
losing streak and salvage the finale of a three-game series tonight versus the
Texas Rangers at Comerica Park.
The Tigers, who were swept in four games at Cleveland
Pirates, Brewers to go back it at after slugfest >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though it went from a laugher to a nail-biter, the
Pittsburgh Pirates were still able to snap their five-game losing streak to
Milwaukee last night. Another offensive outburst might be needed, given Zach
Duke's history agains
Braves try to stay ahead of Padres in clash of division leaders >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - By drawing first blood in this three-game series with the
San Diego Padres last night, the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves
again own the league's best record.
Atlanta will try to keep its grip on that accolade
Rockies seek to build off rout of Marlins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Francis showed last night that he still belongs in
Colorado's rotation. That hasn't been an issue for Jason Hammel for most of
this season.
Coming off his first loss in nearly two months, Hammel will try to pitch the
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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.
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