Carpenter masters Dodgers again

Baseball Betting Lines

07/15/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Carpenter pitched eight strong innings and remained unbeaten against the Dodgers, and the St. Louis Cardinals started the post All-Star break with a 7-1 win in the opener of a four-game series.

Carpenter (10-3), who had lost his previous two starts, allowing a total of 18 hits and 11 earned runs over nine innings, was marvelous Thursday night. The right-hander permitted four hits, including a homer by Andre Ethier in the fourth inning, and moved to 6-0 in eight lifetime starts against the Dodgers. Carpenter, who had six strikeouts without walking a batter, upped his mark to 19-4 lifetime against NL West clubs.

Albert Pujols had three hits and scored once, while Allen Craig knocked in two runs for the Cardinals, who lost four of their last six games just prior to the break. They're within a half-game of Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central.

Ethier had two hits for Los Angeles, which had won three of four against the Cubs just prior to the unofficial midseason point.

Manny Ramirez, who had been out since June 29 due to a strained right hamstring, was activated off the disabled list and went 0-for-3.

Clayton Kershaw (9-5) was charged with eight hits and five runs -- four earned -- over 4 1/3 innings to have a two-start winning streak snapped.

St. Louis loaded the bases with nobody out in the opening inning before Matt Holliday and Craig each knocked in runs via fielder's choice ground balls.

Ethier homered to right-center with one out in the fourth, but the Cardinals tacked on two runs in the bottom of the inning. Yadier Molina singled to left and went to second on Ramirez's error. Aaron Miles followed with an RBI single to left. Miles went to second on the throw home and scored on Felipe Lopez's two-out double to left.

Pujols doubled to start the fifth and scored on Craig's sacrifice fly to center.

Jon Jay extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the seventh inning, and he scored on Molina's base hit to center.

Game Notes

St. Louis has an 18-4 home mark in the last 22 regular season games against the Dodgers...The Cardinals handed general manager John Mozeliak a three-year contract extension on Thursday, keeping him in St. Louis through the 2013 campaign...St. Louis placed outfielder Nick Stavinoha on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder. The team also recalled Craig from Triple- A Memphis. The Cardinals also announced right-handed pitcher Adam Ottavino, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 4, will undergo a procedure to repair a tear in his throwing shoulder...Ramirez went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts during a three-game rehab stint with Single-A Inland Empire from Sunday-Tuesday. The Dodgers opened a roster spot for Ramirez by placing outfielder Reed Johnson on the 15-day DL with a lower back injury.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.

Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.

Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

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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.