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08/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles passed their first test under new manager Buck Showalter with flying colors. Their next challenge figures to be a little bit tougher, however, with the American League Central-leading Chicago White Sox invading Camden Yards for a four-game series that begins this evening.
The Orioles excelled in their first series with Showalter at the helm, taking all three meetings with the fading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to start a current seven-game homestand off on a very positive note. The club showed some resolve as well in Thursday's finale, bouncing back from squandering a four- run lead to claim a 5-4 victory on Cesar Izturis' one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After the Angels scored four times in the top of the eighth inning to erase a 4-0 deficit, Baltimore's Matt Wieters smacked a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth and pinch-runner Julio Lugo advanced on a sacrifice bunt before Izturis singled up the middle to knock in the winning run and give the Orioles their first sweep of Anaheim since July 17-20, 2003.
"I think [Showalter] really sparked those guys," Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. "We just couldn't come through. They just seemed like they wanted it more."
Nick Markakis added a solo homer and drove in two runs for Baltimore, while rookie Jake Arrieta turned in 7 2/3 strong innings despite not factoring in the final outcome. The young right-hander retired the first 14 batters he faced and took a shutout into the eighth inning before being charged with a pair of runs allowed.
Jason Berken (3-2) claimed the win after recording the final out of the top of the eighth and following up with a scoreless ninth.
Now the Orioles will attempt to maintain their newfound momentum when they take on a formidable Chicago squad that comes in having won nine of its last 11 contests and owns a 1 1/2-game lead over second-place Minnesota in the AL Central standings.
The White Sox won three of four matchups in Detroit in their most recent set and garnered a series win with a 6-4, 11-inning decision on Thursday. Chicago overcame another shaky showing from closer Bobby Jenks, who surrendered a game-tying three-run homer to the Tigers' Ryan Raburn in the bottom of the ninth that raised his earned run average to 10.57 since the All-Star break.
Chicago went back in front on Mark Kotsay's two-run triple in the top of the 11th, and Sergio Santos threw two scoreless innings in relief of Jenks to earn his first major league win.
Kotsay, who's batting just .223 on the season, had a two-run homer earlier in the game and finished 3-for-5 for the White Sox, while Juan Pierre added an RBI single as part of a two-hit afternoon.
"It's not easy," said Kotsay of his slump. "Anytime you struggle you get to see the true character of somebody, and hopefully in this locker room these guys know the amount of effort, the amount of work I put in just to help this ball club and [Thursday] it's all good."
Jenks' blown save cost Freddy Garcia a chance of earning his 11th win of the year after the veteran starter held the Tigers to one run and five hits over the first 6 2/3 innings.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will be seeking a similar performance out of tonight's starter John Danks, the team's leader with 11 victories thus far in 2010. The usually-steady left-hander wasn't at his best last time out, however, allowing five runs in 6 2/3 innings to take a loss against Oakland this past Saturday.
Prior to that defeat, Danks had won four straight starts and yielded one run or less in three of those games. The 25-year-old has posted a solid 3.40 ERA for the season and has limited the opposition to a .221 average at the plate.
Danks also owns a 4-2 record with a 4.11 ERA in six lifetime encounters with Baltimore and beat the Orioles three times last season, including an April 22, 2009 showdown at Camden Yards in which he delivered seven innings of one-run ball.
Brad Bergesen gets the call for Baltimore in the opener and takes another stab at ending a winless streak that's gone on for more than 2 1/2 months now. The sophomore right-hander is 0-7 with a 7.26 ERA in 11 starts since a May 12 verdict over Seattle, with the Orioles prevailing as a team in only one of those tilts.
Bergesen did pitch well enough to win in his most recent assignment, however, working seven innings and giving up just two runs on five hits Saturday at Kansas City. He left with a 3-2 lead, but ended up with a no-decision after the Royals scored twice against the Baltimore bullpen in the eighth.
The 24-year-old went 1-1 in a pair of starts against the White Sox during a seven-win rookie campaign in 2009, with the victory taking place at Camden Yards in his major league debut. Bergesen permitted three runs -- one earned -- and just four hits over 5 2/3 innings in that April 21, 2009 clash.
The Orioles won five of nine overall meetings with the White Sox last season, including two of three tests held in Baltimore.
<< Promising goalies poised for breakout
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The parity of the cap-era NHL claimed
another victim this past week when the Chicago Blackhawks traded Stanley Cup
winning goalie Antti Niemi in favor of an aging Marty Turco and a paltry $1.45
million in cap
<< Two transfers join Eastern Illinois roster
Charleston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Ohio Valley Conference champion
Eastern Illinois opened preseason camp Thursday night by welcoming two
transfers to its roster, Mike Garrity from Illinois and Aki Dionsopoulos from
Fresno State.
G
<< Alabama tops coaches' preseason poll
McLean, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending national champion Alabama sits atop
the preseason USA Today coaches' football poll.
Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram returns at running back for the Crimson Tide
and quarterback Greg McElroy is als
<< Relentless Randle ready to enter Hall of Fame
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -John Randle was a trash-talking, twitch-quick defensive tackle who intimidated and distracted opponents on his way to the sixth-most sacks in NFL history, fueled by a competitive drive that pushed an undrafted, undersized player fo
First meets worst as Padres, D-Backs begin divisional set >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have a favorable road matchup this
weekend against the NL West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks, but the desert hasn't
been too kind lately for the current division leaders.
The Padres, who are two games ahe
Rolling Twins start series with last-place Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Minnesota Twins and Francisco Liriano will be
aiming to continue their respective hot streaks when the American League
Central contenders start up a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians
tonight at Progressive
Wainwright, Cards take act to the road in opener with Marlins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright owns a
perfect mark at Busch Stadium this season. Now it's time for him to step up
his road game when he takes the mound tonight in the opener of a three-game
series agains
Dodgers aim to regroup in opener vs. Nationals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's only August, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are in danger
of playing themselves out of the playoff race. They'll try to get their
struggling offense going tonight versus the Washington Nationals in the opener
of a th
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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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