Beltre's blast helps Mariners past Toronto
Baseball Betting Lines
07/21/2007 -
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adrian Beltre's two-run homer in the fourth
inning gave Seattle the lead for good and the Mariners went on to defeat the
Toronto Blue Jays, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.
Jose Guillen and Raul Ibanez drove in a run each for the Mariners, who have
won eight of their last 11 games. J.J. Putz recorded the final three outs to
register his 31st consecutive save (29th of the season) and extend his
scoreless innings streak to 22, as Seattle began its seven-game road trip with
its fourth straight win away from home.
Seattle's starting pitcher Miguel Batista (10-7) got the win against one of
his former teams. The right-hander, who played for the Jays in 2004 and 2005,
allowed two runs on five hits, striking out six and walking three, in 5 2/3
innings. He has now won two straight and three of four starts.
Alex Rios went 3-for-4 and Troy Glaus had two hits and drove in a run for
Toronto, which opened its six-game homestand by losing for the fourth time in
six outings.
Toronto starter Jesse Litsch (2-4) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on
five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He also walked four and struck out two, losing for
the fourth time in five decisions.
Toronto started the scoring in the second inning. Frank Thomas, Lyle Overbay
and Aaron Hill all worked walks to begin the inning. Gregg Zaun then hit into
a 4-6-3 double play to score Thomas.
Beltre put Seattle ahead 2-1 in the fourth with his homer. Then, in the fifth,
Ibanez singled home Yuniesky Betancourt and Guillen's base hit plated Ichiro
Suzuki.
The Blue Jays got a run back in the sixth. Rios doubled to start the frame and
scored on Glaus' one-out single to make it a 4-2 game.
However, that was it for the Jays. The Seattle bullpen worked the final 3 1/3
innings, allowing just three hits.
Game Notes
Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected in the sixth inning by first base
umpire Tim Timmons after Timmons said Aaron Hill went too far on a check
swing. Hill ended up striking out later in the at-bat...Beltre's HR was his
15th of the season...Toronto's John McDonald went 0-for-2 and is now in an 0-
for-20 slump...Howie Clark, who pinch-hit for McDonald in the seventh,
grounded out in his only plate appearance to see his hitless slump extend to
13 at-bats...Richie Sexson had two of the six hits for the Mariners...Putz has
not allowed a run in 16 road games.
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Beckett wins No. 13, Crisp slams BoSox over ChiSox >>
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inning.
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and Todd Helton drove in two runs as the Colorado Rockies beat the Washington
Nationals, 3-1, in the second of four games at RFK Stadium.
Cook (6-6) had a stro
Beckett wins No. 13, Lugo slams BoSox over ChiSox >>
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Boston drilled the Chicago White Sox, 10-3 in a game that saw a home run call
blown, leading to the ejection of Red Sox manager Terry Francona in the first
inning.
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Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland center fielder Nick Swisher left
Friday's 6-1 loss against Baltimore in the seventh inning with a sprained
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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.
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