O's hope to continue success under new manager vs. White Sox

Baseball Betting Lines

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.

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Just because it is the All-Star break doesn’t mean that you can’t bet on NBA hoops this weekend.  Be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com to bet on who you think will cut down the nets this July. Also, be sure to check out all of the lines and props for All-Star weekend.  With the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry, there are plenty of ways to cash in on the NBA this weekend.

MySportsbook.com’s NBA Championship odds:

Atlanta Hawks 1000-1

Boston Celtics 5000-1

Charlotte Bobcats 5000-1

Chicago Bulls 20-1

Cleveland Cavaliers 20-1

Dallas Mavericks 2-1

Denver Nuggets 25-1

Detroit Pistons 6-1

Golden State Warriors 250-1

Houston Rockets 12-1

Indiana Pacers 60-1

Los Angeles Clippers 45-1

Memphis Grizzlies 5000-1

Miami Heat 9-1

Milwaukee Bucks 1000-1

Minnesota T-Wolves 200-1

New Jersey Nets 50-1

New Orleans Hornets 150-1

New York Knicks 150-1

Orlando Magic 75-1

Philadelphia 76ers 1000-1

Phoenix Suns 5-2

Portland TrailBlazers 1000-1

Sacramento Kings 250-1

San Antonio Spurs 9-1

Seattle Sonics 5000-1

Toronto Raptors 35-1

Utah Jazz 20-1

Washington Wizards 25-1

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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.