Anderson, Kotchman spark Angels over Indians

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2007 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Garret Anderson finished with three RBI, including a two-run homer, and set a new club record in the process while Casey Kotchman's two-run double keyed a four-run fifth inning, as the Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians, 10-3, in the opener of a four-game series.

Anderson has now registered at least one RBI in 11 consecutive games, which is a franchise record. Orlando Cabrera and Gary Matthews both added two hits, an RBI and a run scored for the Angels, who have won three of their last four games and increased their comfortable lead atop the AL West to eight games over idle Seattle.

"Being healthy is at the top of the list," Anderson said as to the reasons he has been successful as of late. "Now I just have to focus on baseball. Helping my team is what I think about. I make my living driving in runs."

Kelvim Escobar earned the win after he tossed 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits. Escobar (16-7) struck out eight and issued three walks.

Franklin Gutierrez homered for the red-hot Indians, who swept the Twins earlier this week and lost for the only the second time in their last 13 games overall. Cleveland leads Detroit, which won earlier Thursday, by six games in the AL Central.

Paul Byrd (14-6) suffered the loss after he allowed five runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero was scratched from the lineup and taken for an MRI exam prior to the game. Guerrero, who leads the Angels with 22 home runs, 110 RBI and a .326 batting average, is suffering from an inflamed right triceps. However, he returned to the stadium and was seen in the dugout smiling with teammates. He is considered day-to-day.

Trailing 3-1, the Angels took control with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jeff Mathis led off and was hit by a pitch and landed on third when Matthews stroked a one-out single. Cabrera fanned for the second out, but Anderson's streak was kept intact when he singled home Mathis for a 2-2 tie. Kendry Morales followed with an RBI single, which scored Matthews, and Maicer Izturis drew a walk to load the bases. Kotchman's two-run double gave the hosts a 5-2 lead.

"Our bats (have been) better and better," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "We're young, but it doesn't mean we don't have the talent to get to where we want to be."

Cabrera singled home Mathis in the sixth before Kotchman struck again in the home seventh. After Izturis drew a one-out walk, Kotchman belted a run-scoring double off the wall in center field and later scored on Howie Kendrick's base hit for a commanding 8-3 lead.

Anderson capped the scoring with a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth.

Kenny Lofton scored the game's first run in the top of the third. He led off with a double and crossed the plate on Kelly Shoppach's two-base hit, but Matthews cut the Angels deficit in half with an RBI single in the bottom of the third.

In the fifth, Cleveland grabbed a two-run lead. Gutierrez hit a solo home run, his 11th of the year, and Travis Hafner doubled and scored on a single by Victor Martinez.

Game Notes

Byrd had won four straight starts prior to this outing...Escobar improved to 7-3 lifetime versus the Tribe...The Angels now lead the season series, 4-3...Darren Oliver, Justin Speier and Scot Shields combined to pitch 3 1/3 shutout innings for the Angels and allowed a one total hit...The Angels pounded out 15 hits...Anderson has 15 homers and 71 RBI this season...The pitching matchup for Friday will feature John Lackey versus Cleveland's Jake Westbrook...Attendance was 41,720.

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

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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.