AL East-leading Yankees pay a visit to Chase Field
Baseball Betting Lines
06/21/2010 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees are back in familiar territory atop
the American League East standings and own baseball's best record. They will
try to maintain both tonight in the opener of a three-game interleague series
against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
While the Tampa Bay Rays struggled with the Florida Marlins this weekend, the
Yankees took two of three meetings against the crosstown rival Mets in the
Bronx and posted a 4-0 victory in Sunday's series finale. Mark Teixeira's
grand slam in the third inning was all ace CC Sabathia needed to push his
record to 8-3 this season. The big lefty fired eight scoreless innings and
limited the Mets to four hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
"I felt pretty good out there. I wasn't thinking 'If you get me a run, the
game's over' or anything like that," Sabathia said after winning his fourth
straight start. "I felt like once we had the lead I was confident enough to
keep pounding away, hitting the strike zone."
Derek Jeter shook off a heel injury to record two hits and Jorge Posada ended
2-for-4 with a double for the Yankees, who are one game ahead of both Tampa
Bay and Boston in the AL East Division. New York has won two straight after a
three-game slide and nine of its last 13 contests. It will also visit former
manager Joe Torre and the Los Angeles Dodgers on this interleague trek.
Yankees All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano went 0-for-3 on Sunday, but
still leads the major leagues with a .367 batting average. He entered
yesterday's game hitting .440 with eight doubles, five homers and 21 runs
batted in since May 26.
A.J. Burnett could use some of that firepower when he takes the mound in the
desert tonight. Burnett has lost three straight starts and is only 2-5 with a
6.36 earned run average in his last eight appearances. He previously pitched
in last Wednesday's 6-3 loss to Philadelphia and gave up all six runs on six
hits and four walks over a season-low 3 1/3 innings.
Burnett, who has given up at least four runs in each of his last three trips
to the hill, is 3-3 in eight road starts this season. The righty will make his
sixth career start against the Diamondbacks and is 3-2 with a 3.67 ERA over
the first five encounters.
Arizona probably can't wait for interleague play to be over as it has lost
five of the last six contests against the American League. After losing all
three meetings in Boston, the D'Backs dropped two of three games in Detroit
over the weekend.
In a 3-1 setback on Sunday, Ian Kennedy was saddled with the loss for
permitting all three runs in the seventh inning and six hits, including two
homers, over 6 2/3 frames.
"This was very, very, very frustrating to say the least," Kennedy said on the
team's website.
Chris Young drove in the lone run for Arizona, which is last in the National
League West standings at 13 1/2 games off the lead. Rusty Ryal had two of the
four hits for the D'Backs.
Rodrigo Lopez has the pleasure of welcoming the Yankees to the Valley of the
Sun and will make his 15th start of the season Monday. Lopez has lost three
straight starts and is winless in his last four decisions. He is just 2-6 with
a 4.70 ERA this season and was pummeled at Boston the last time out on
Wednesday, giving up six runs and 10 hits in seven innings.
Lopez, who has lasted at least seven innings in four straight outings, picked
up his last win on May 15 at Atlanta. He is 1-3 in seven home starts in 2010
and has had plenty of experience against the Bronx Bombers. In 24 career
matchups (20 starts) with New York, the right-hander is 8-8 with a 5.90 ERA.
The Yankees are 7-2 all-time in regular season games with Arizona and swept a
three-game series in the Bronx the last time these two clubs squared off in
2007. The Yankees outscored the D'Backs, 18-4, in those games. Arizona, of
course, beat New York in seven games to win the 2001 World Series.
New York is 140-100 in interleague play, while the D'Backs are 87-109.
<< Young hurlers square off in Reds-A's opener
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Cincinnati Reds swept the heavily-favored
Oakland Athletics in four games to win the 1990 World Series, Gio Gonzalez and
Mike Leake were probably still using coloring books and watching Sesame
Street.
Now young
<< Nationals hope to get on track versus Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Besides the unveiling of Stephen Strasburg there's not
much to cheer about for the Washington Nationals. A season-high six-game
losing streak will usually do that.
Washington will continue its tour against American Leagu
<< 2010 CFL Eastern Preview - Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FACTS & FIGURES: Division - East. 2009 Record:
7-11. Playoff Result: Didn't Make Playoffs. Stadium - Canad Inns Stadium.
Capacity - 29,533. Colors: Blue and gold.
The 2009 season was certainly a disappoint
<< 2010 CFL Eastern Preview - Toronto Argonauts
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FACTS & FIGURES: Division - East. 2009 Record:
3-15. Playoff Result: Didn't make playoffs. Stadium - Rogers Centre. Capacity
- 53,000. Colors: Oxford blue, Cambridge blue, White.
There is both an optimistic
<< 2010 CFL Western Preview - Saskatchewan Roughriders
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FACTS & FIGURES: Division - West. 2009 record -
10-7-1. Playoff result: Lost, 28-27, to Montreal in the Grey Cup Championship.
Stadium - Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field. Capacity - 30,945. Colors - Green,
white,
Former Montana All-America killed in mining accident >>
Silverton, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former University of Montana All-America Tim
Bush died in a mining accident Friday morning.
The Missoulian newspaper reported that Galena Mine officials said the 29-year-
old Bush was hit by a falling slab of
Atlanta Hawks 2010 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The winds of change are blowing in Dixie but the weather
brewing might be a bit chaotic.
Mike Woodson built the Atlanta Hawks from a 13-win team to a 53-win club but a
poor performance in the playoffs against Southeast Div
2010 NBA Mock Draft version 2.0 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's NBA Draft saw a couple of big
men, Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet, go 1-2 before it became all about the
backcourt, specifically the point guard position.
The league was infiltrated in 2009-
Boston Celtics 2010 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Celtics came up just short in their bid for a second
NBA championship in three years when they fell to their long-time rival, the
LA Lakers, in Game 7 of The Finals.
Now the questions in Beantown revert to the off the
NHL Mock Draft: No surprise at 1-2 >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A breakdown at how The Sportsbook Betting Lines sees
this week's NHL Draft:
1. Edmonton: Taylor Hall (LW), Windsor, OHL
Forget the Taylor versus Tyler debate; Hall will be donning the Blue and Orange
come June 25
NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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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.
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