Reds, Cards close big series in St. Louis

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It is starting to appear as if the Cincinnati Reds are headed towards their first National League Central title since 1995.

Today, they try to put even more distance between themselves and the St. Louis Cardinals, as they go for a series win in the rubber match of their three-game series at Busch Stadium.

However, the Reds will be facing one of the best pitchers in baseball in righty Chris Carpenter, who has owned them over the course of his career, posting an 11-3 mark to go along with a 2.00 earned run average in 17 starts.

Carpenter, though, absorbed the loss on Tuesday in Houston, as the Astros reached him for three runs (two earned) and six hits in seven innings. He is 14-5 on the year with a 2.92 ERA, but has lost two of his last three decisions.

The Reds upped their division lead on the Cards to eight on Saturday, as Travis Wood turned in seven solid innings and hit his first career home run to lead Cincinnati to a 6-1 victory. Jonny Gomes had a two-run double in the first inning and Brandon Phillips made it a three-run margin in the second with an RBI single, as the Reds won for the seventh time in nine contests.

Wood (5-2) allowed an unearned run and five hits while fanning three and walking two for his fifth win in seven starts. It was his first career matchup against the Cardinals, who had won five in a row in the series.

Adam Wainwright (17-10) again failed in his bid to become the National League's first 18-game winner. In fact, the right-hander extended a career- high losing streak to four consecutive starts while St. Louis fell for the ninth time in 11 tries.

"I don't like losing one game, much less four in a row," Wainwright said. "I won't lose again."

Wainwright was charged with seven hits and five runs, only two of those earned, while fanning six and walking one over five innings. Matt Holliday had two hits and an RBI for the Cards, who opened the series Friday with a 3-2 win.

Hoping to pitch the Reds to a series win this afternoon will be righty Homer Bailey, who is 3-2 with a 4.92 ERA. Bailey did not get a decision on Monday against Milwaukee, as he allowed four runs in six innings of his team's 5-4 win.

Bailey did not get a decision the last time he faced the Cards and is just 1-3 in six starts against them with a 6.04 ERA.

The Cardinals have won 11 of 17 versus the Reds this year.

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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.

Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.