Downtrodden Dodgers continue home set with Astros

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to stop a three-game slide when they resume a four-game series this evening versus the Houston Astros at Chavez Ravine.

Los Angeles, which has lost nine of 11 and is 4-14 over its last 18 games, suffered a 4-1 loss to the Astros on Monday in the series opener. Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Dodgers, who sit 3 1/2 games off the NL Wild Card lead.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley gave up four runs on six hits over five innings for the loss. He also struck out seven and walked four batters.

Brett Tomko gets the nod for Los Angeles this evening and is 2-9 with a 5.49 ERA in 31 games (13 starts) this season. Tomko will try for his first win at Dodger Stadium this season after going 0-6 with a 6.69 earned run average through 16 games (six starts) so far at home.

The right-hander is 0-2 in his last four appearances and received a no decision last Thursday at Cincinnati, yielding three runs in six innings of a 5-4 Dodgers win at Great American Ball Park.

Tomko is 5-5 with a 4.55 earned run average in 14 career starts against the Astros.

Houston has won two in a row and five of seven. In Monday's victory over Los Angeles, Roy Oswalt pitched eight solid innings and Jason Lane hit a two-run homer to lead the way.

Oswalt won his fifth straight start, giving up just six hits and one run with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. He hasn't lost since July 14 and has allowed just three earned runs over 33 innings during that stretch.

Chad Qualls then closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Houston is nine games behind Milwaukee for the top spot in the NL Central standings and 10 1/2 games off the wild-card chase.

Matt Albers will take the ball for the Astros tonight and is 2-5 with a 6.20 ERA in 22 games (nine starts) this season. Albers last started on August 5 against Florida and yielded five runs in 4 1/3 frames of a 6-5 loss. He has made two relief appearances since.

The right-hander faced Los Angeles for the first time in his career on July 25. He hurled five shutout innings with five strikeouts and one walk, but settled for a no decision during Houston's 2-1 victory at Minute Maid Park.

These two clubs met in Houston from July 23-25 of this season, with the Astros winning two of three. LA and Houston split six meetings last year.

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MySportsbook.com Posts Heisman Trophy Odds

With 3,919 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a mere seven interceptions last season, combined with a powerful South Bend Heisman legacy, odds makers at MySportsbook.com have given Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn the best Heisman Trophy odds at 5-2.

Quinn isn’t the only big man on campus this season.  Oklahoma junior running back and 2004 Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson, listed at 7-2, rushed for a combined 3,033 yards in his first two years as a college player and will give Quinn a run for his money. 

This online sportsbook has also listed Troy Smith, Ohio State senior quarterback, as another strong favorite to win the 72nd Heisman Trophy.  A 7-1 bet, Smith threw for 2,282 yards last season and also led the Buckeyes to a convincing 34-20 victory over Quinn and the Fighting Irish in last season’s Fiesta Bowl.

Current betting odds Heisman trophy are:

Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)
Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)
Troy Smith (QB, Ohio State)
Michael Bush (RB, Louisville)
Steve Slaton (RB, West Virginia)
Brian Brohm (QB, Louisville)
Chris Leak (QB, Florida)
Mike Hart (RB, Michigan)
Ted Ginn (WR, Ohio State)
Darius Walker (RB, Notre Dame)
Drew Tate (QB, Iowa)
Marshawn Lynch (RB, Cal)
Kenny Irons (RB, Auburn)
Chad Henne (QB, Michigan)
Kyle Wright (QB, Miami)
Drew Stanton (QB, Michigan State)
Kenneth Darby (RB, Alabama)
JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU)
Drew Weatherford (QB, Florida State)
Blake Mitchell (QB, South Carolina)
Reggie Ball (QB, Georgia Tech)		 5-2
7-2
7-1
10-1
10-1
12-1
12-1
18-1
18-1
20-1
30-1
35-1
35-1
40-1
50-1
50-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1

For complete NCAA Football odds visit MySportsbook.com.

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.