10/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers try to take a commanding two games to none lead in their best-of-five National League Division Series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
In Game 1 of this set on Wednesday, James Loney clubbed a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning and Manny Ramirez homered in the seventh, as Los Angeles picked up a 7-2 win.
Russell Martin also hit a solo shot in the ninth for the Dodgers, who took advantage of eight walks, including three in the decisive fifth inning, to post just their second playoff victory (2-12) since winning the 1988 World Series.
Casey Blake added an RBI single in the eighth inning for the NL West champions.
Derek Lowe (1-0) had six strikeouts over six innings in his eighth career playoff start. The right-hander gave up seven hits with Chicago's lone two runs coming on a homer by Mark DeRosa in the second inning. Lowe allowed a base runner in each one of his innings, but managed to consistently escape trouble.
Ryan Dempster (0-1) was charged with seven of the walks, as he yielded four hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings for the Cubs, who have been snake-bitten in the postseason. It's been 100 years since they last won a World Series title and were swept in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by Arizona.
Dempster came into the contest with a 14-3 mark at Wrigley Field this year, the most since Ferguson Jenkins had a franchise-record 15 in 1967, but control problems in the fifth factored heavily in the defeat of the NL Central champions.
The Cubs went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Chicago's Alfonso Soriano, who went 2-for-14 in the NLDS last year, was 0-for-5 in this game. The Cubs' No.2 hitter in the lineup, Kosuke Fukudome, was hitless in four at-bats.
Now the Cubs turn to struggling right-hander Carlos Zambrano. The Big Z missed some time in September with what was being called a tired arm, but returned on September 14 and threw the Cubs' first no-hitter since Milt Pappas in 1972.
Zambrano, though, has been battered in his two starts since, surrendering 13 runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 frames. He was 14-6 on the year with a 3.91 ERA.
He faced the Dodgers twice this season, going 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA, while surrendering 19 hits in 14 2/3 innings.
Zambrano is 0-1 in four postseason starts with a 4.37 ERA. However, he has only received nine runs of support in those outings.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, will counter with 24-year-old right-hander Chad Billinsgley, who went 16-10 this season with a 3.14 ERA, winning his last four and seven of his last eight decisions.
This will be Billingsley's first postseason start. He did make two relief appearances in the 2006 NLDS against the Mets, tossing two scoreless innings.
These two storied franchises have never met in the postseason, but Chicago won five of the seven regular season matchups between the clubs this year.
The series will shift to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Saturday night.
<< Best in the Big Ten
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Just a few short weeks ago, the Big Ten
was Ohio State's conference to lose. Fast forward just one month, and it isn't
the Buckeyes that have a stranglehold on the Big Ten, but rather Penn State
that has show
<< Percival left off Rays' ALDS roster
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays
have opted to leave closer Troy Percival off their American League Division
Series roster.
Percival has battled a myriad of injuries in the second half of t
<< The Replacements: Lester, Bay deliver in Red Sox' Game 1 triumph
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If anyone thought Boston was going to miss Josh Beckett in
its Game 1 American League Division Series matchup with the Los Angeles Angels
of Anaheim, think again.
The same goes for Manny Ramirez too.
With Beckett's st
<< NBA referee report finds no additional illegal activity
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA released the results of a review of
the league's embattled officiating program Thursday in the wake of the Tim
Donaghy scandal.
Donaghy, a former NBA referee, received a 15-month prison sente
Report: Mets pick up Delgado's 2009 option >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have informed first
baseman Carlos Delgado that they will pick up his option for the 2009 season,
according to a report in the New York Post.
The 36-year-old's option is worth $12 mi
Cutler, Haynesworth and Sproles named AFC Players of the Month >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler,
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and San Diego Chargers
kick returner Darren Sproles were named AFC Players of the Month for
Septemb
Johnson, Horton earn rookie honors for September >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Titans running back Chris
Johnson and Washington Redskins safety Chris Horton have been selected as the
NFL's top rookies for the month of September.
Johnson, the 24th overall pick out
Brees, Woodson and Rocca nab NFC monthly awards >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew
Brees, Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson and Philadelphia Eagles
punter Sav Rocca were named the NFC's top players for the month of September.
Bree
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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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 won’t 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 doesn’t focus only on your opponent’s 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. Where’s 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, don’t 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 won’t be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, I’m 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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