Angels take all three in Freeway Series vs. Dodgers

Baseball Betting Lines

06/13/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hideki Matsui finished 3-for-4 with two RBI as the Angels held on to top the Dodgers, 6-5, in the finale of a three-game interleague series from Dodger Stadium.

Bobby Abreu collected three hits, scored twice and drove in a run while Torii Hunter and Mike Napoli homered for the Angels, who swept the set and have won four of five overall.

Jered Weaver (6-3) yielded five hits and three runs with seven strikeouts over six innings for the win. Brian Fuentes turned in a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.

Manny Ramirez went 3-for-4 with two doubles and scored twice for the Dodgers, who had won four in a row prior to this weekend. James Loney added three hits and three RBI and Rafael Furcal homered in the setback.

Carlos Monasterios (3-1) suffered his first defeat of the season after allowing seven hits and four runs with three walks over just 2 2/3 frames.

Down 5-1, the Dodgers struck for a pair of runs in the home seventh to close the gap to two. Ramirez led off with a double and Loney doubled him in, signaling Weaver's exit for Kevin Jepsen. After two quick outs, Blake DeWitt plated Loney with a single.

Napoli's solo shot in the eighth gave the Halos a 6-3 cushion, but the home team responded with two more in the bottom half. Russell Martin drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a Ramirez single then both scored on Loney's double.

Fuentes walked pinch-hitter Casey Blake in the bottom of the ninth but Matt Kemp fanned swinging and Furcal grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

The Angels picked up two in the first on RBI singles from Abreu and Matsui, and the Dodgers responded in the home half when Furcal led off with his second homer of the year.

Hunter's blast and Howie Kendrick's run-scoring double in the third pushed the visitors' edge to 4-1, then Matsui knocked in Abreu with a single in the fifth.

Game Notes

The Angels have won five of the last seven meetings with the Dodgers, and have won five of the last six at Chavez Ravine...It was the first time the Angels swept the Dodgers in LA since interleague play began in 1997...For Furcal, it was his 26th leadoff homer, and 14th as Dodger.

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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.

El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.

Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''

Additional baseball lines and World Series odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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