Tigers, Blue Jays play two at Comerica

Baseball Betting Lines

07/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Due to the postponement of the contest on Friday, the fans at Comerica Park will get a double dose of baseball this afternoon when the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays wrap up their four-game series with a traditional doubleheader.

Taking the hill for Detroit in the opening matchup with be Jeremy Bonderman.

Earlier in his career Bonderman was considered the ace of Detroit, but the emergence of Justin Verlander, and more importantly a rash of injures have left the veteran right-hander surrounded by question marks.

The 2010 campaign has been an inconsistent nightmare for Bonderman, who is just 5-6 with a 4.98 earned run average. The last time the Washington native was on the hill, he was pounded by Texas, allowing five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. However, despite the lackluster showing, Bonderman did not factor in the 8-6 setback.

This will be the ninth career start for Bonderman against Toronto and his 11th appearance overall. During that span, Bonderman has performed well against the AL East foe, notching a 2-2 mark with a solid 3.00 earned run average.

Brett Cecil is one of the many young pitchers for the Blue Jays, but like most young arms Cecil has dealt with some bumps in the road this year. In fact, the southpaw has just one victory in his last six matchups.

The last time the 24-year-old was on the mound he limited Kansas City to just three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. Cecil, who saw his ERA rise to 3.99 on the season, also walked three batters in the 5-4 loss to Kansas City.

Cecil, who is 5-3 in 10 road starts this season, will be meeting the Blue Jays for the first time in his brief career.

In the night cap, the Tigers will look towards Armando Galarraga, who has gone winless in his last three starts. The right-hander has won just twice in his last 10 outings, and one of those victories was the infamous near perfect game.

The last time the 28-year-old was on the hill he tossed 7 1/3 innings against Texas, but surrendered four runs on nine hits, en route to an 8-0 loss. It was the first loss at home for Galarraga, who is now 2-1 with an impressive 2.98 earned run average in seven games at Comerica Park.

Galarraga has enjoy success against Toronto in his career, posting a 2-0 mark with an equally impressive 2.30 earned run average.

The Blue Jays will turn to Jesse Litsch, who is coming off his first victory of the season. Litsch, who was activated from the disable list on June 9 went winless in his first six outings before leading Toronto to a win over Kansas City on July 20.

In the victory over the Royals, the right-hander allowed just one run on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings of work. Even though the victory came on the road, the Florida native is just 1-3 outside of Toronto, with an even worse 8.00 earned run average.

In two career starts against Detroit Litsch is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA.

On Saturday, Jose Bautista knocked in two runs to back a solid outing from Shaun Marcum as Toronto clipped Detroit, 3-2. Vernon Wells drove in the other for the Blue Jays, who snapped a two-game slide.

Marcum (9-4) yielded eight hits and a pair of runs over 5 2/3 frames, fanning five with one walk to register his third win in four starts. Kevin Gregg pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save.

Miguel Cabrera had two hits and drove in a run for the Tigers, who lost slugger Magglio Ordonez to a fractured right ankle and second baseman Carlos Guillen to a leg injury.

Ordonez was taken for evaluation, and the team later announced he'd be out 6- to-8 weeks while recovering.

Rick Porcello (4-8) gave up five hits and three runs with four walks over six innings in defeat for Detroit, which has dropped eight of its last 10 games.

Toronto prevailed in five of eight encounters with the Tigers last season, with the clubs splitting a four-game set in the Motor City from September 11-14.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards

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.