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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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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.