Football Betting

Hanigan's bat, Chapman's arm lead Reds over Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Hanigan's three-run homer fueled a six-run seventh inning, as the Cincinnati Reds beat Milwaukee, 6-1, to complete a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.

The win gave first-place Cincinnati an eight-game lead over the free-falling Cardinals in the National League Central standings.

The fateful seventh began on a promising note for Brewers starting pitcher Chris Narveson, who struck out Jonny Gomes. But he was lifted in favor of reliever Todd Coffey (2-3) following a walk to Ramon Hernandez.

Miguel Cairo greeted Coffey with a double that plated pinch-runner Brandon Phillips with the tying run. Paul Janish then reached on an infield single and Hanigan, pinch-hitting for rookie phenom Aroldis Chapman (1-0), followed by giving Cincinnati the lead with a blast to left field.

Mike McClendon replaced the ineffective Coffey and couldn't record an out as well, walking Drew Stubbs and yielding a single to Chris Heisey. Zach Braddock took over on the mound and walked Joey Votto to load the bases for Scott Rolen, who ripped a two-run single to right to put the Reds up 6-1.

Coming off an electric debut on Tuesday, Chapman struck out a pair in a flawless seventh to pick up his first major-league win in relief of Johnny Cueto, who scattered five hits and one run in six innings.

Narveson had allowed two hits, walked two and fanned six through 6 1/3 innings. The left-hander also knocked in Milwaukee's lone run with a single in the fifth.

Game Notes

The Reds have won four straight games and 14 of their last 18 overall...Milwaukee has dropped 11 of its last 12 games versus Cincinnati.

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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.