First-place Reds aim to continue mastery of Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place Cincinnati Reds can make it 12 wins in 15 games with the Chicago Cubs tonight, when the clubs meet for the second of three weekend games at Great American Ball Park.

On Friday, Jay Bruce slammed a career-best three home runs and Chris Valaika also went deep to back eight innings of one-run ball from starter Johnny Cueto as Cincinnati beat Chicago, 7-1.

Bruce tied a career-high with five runs batted in, while Drew Stubbs added two hits, a run scored, two stolen bases and a walk for the Reds, who have won two straight and 10 of 13 overall since being swept by the Cardinals over three games two weeks ago.

Cincinnati leads the Cardinals by four games for the top spot in the National League Central Division.

Cueto (12-4) allowed six hits, did not walk a batter and fanned eight. Sam LeCure retired the side in order in the ninth to preserve the Reds' 11th win in 14 meetings with Chicago.

Tom Gorzelanny (7-8) took the loss after allowing a season-high six earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks with one strikeout in five innings for the Cubs, who had a three-game win streak halted.

Cincinnati right-hander Bronson Arroyo can reach 15 wins for the third straight season, matching his career-best victory output.

The 33-year-old Key West, Fla. native has won four of his last five to get to win No. 14, which came via a 5-2 decision over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 22 after he allowed seven hits and two runs in seven innings.

He tossed seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Aug. 6, improving his career mark against them to 9-6 in 21 outings (19 starts).

Arroyo is 5-4 in 12 starts at home in 2010.

Illinois native Randy Wells celebrates his 28th birthday with a chance to end a six-start drought for Chicago.

The veteran of 57 major-league outings improved to 5-7 on the season with a 5-0 defeat of St. Louis on July 23 in Chicago, but is 0-5 with a no-decision since, including a 16-5 loss to Atlanta on Aug. 22 in which he was tagged for seven hits and seven runs in six innings.

He's 3-1 in six career starts against the Reds, including a 3-1 win on July 3, when he gave up five hits and a run in 7 2/3 innings.

Wells has won just twice in 11 road starts this season, allowing 72 hits and 38 runs in 63 1/3 innings while allowing an opposition batting average of .285.

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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.

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.