Bonds-Dice K matchup to highlight Giants-Red Sox tilt

Baseball Betting Lines

06/16/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After nearly homering in his first-ever plate appearance at historic Fenway Park last night, Barry Bonds continues his assault on Hank Aaron's all-time record when his San Francisco Giants play the middle test of a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox this afternoon.

Bonds hit a towering drive off Red Sox starter Julian Tavarez well above the right-field foul pole in the first inning of Friday's 10-2 Boston victory. Following a brief consultation by the umpiring crew, the ball was ruled to be foul.

The superstar slugger ended up popping out in that at-bat and finished the game 1-for-3 with a single and a walk. Bonds remains eight homers shy of matching Aaron's historic mark of 755.

While Bonds' Fenway debut received all the pregame attention, Red Sox rookie Dustin Pedroia wound up as the contest's offensive star. The second baseman went 5-for-5 with a two-run homer and knocked in a career-high five RBI to spark Boston to the rout.

Pedroia's five hits were also a personal best and raised his season average to .331, tops among all rookies.

J.D. Drew added three hits, three RBI and three runs scored to help the Red Sox bounce back from consecutive home losses to Colorado on Wednesday and Thursday. Boston was outscored by a 19-3 margin in those defeats.

Tavarez (4-4) allowed six hits and two runs over seven innings, fanning three and walking two. His counterpart on Friday, Barry Zito, had a rough night on the mound for the Giants.

Zito (6-7) yielded seven runs (six earned) on five hits and issued four walks before being removed after 5 1/3 frames. It was the high-priced lefty's second consecutive defeat.

Today's game features an intriguing pitching matchup, as the struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka goes to the post for the Red Sox opposite Giants' hard-luck right-hander Matt Cain.

Cain has been the more effective pitcher of the pair this season, although the hard-throwing youngster has just two wins to his credit for the year. He's recorded a respectable 3.31 earned run average over 13 starts in 2007, but San Francisco has provided him with two or less runs of support in eight of those outings.

The 22-year-old was victimized by his offense once again on Sunday. Cain limited Oakland to a run and five hits while registering eight strikeouts over eight innings, but wound up on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision. He shut out the Athletics over the first seven frames before yielding a solo homer to Marco Scutaro in the eighth.

This will be the first career appearance against Boston for Cain, who has posted a 2.62 ERA in seven road starts this season.

In contrast, Matsuzaka has won seven games for the Red Sox so far despite bringing a 4.52 ERA into today's showdown. However, the Japanese sensation has also been hindered by his club's offense as of late.

Matsuzaka has taken a loss in each of his last three starts, although he's pitched well enough to win his two most recent times out. The right-hander held Arizona to two runs and four hits while fanning nine over six innings in a 5-1 loss on Sunday. Five days earlier, Matsuzaka gave up just two runs and struck out in seven innings, but got little help in a 2-0 setback at Oakland.

The 26-year-old is 3-2 with a 5.62 ERA in six Fenway Park starts this season.

Last night's encounter was the first meeting between the teams since 2004, when the Giants won two of three games from Boston in San Francisco.

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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.

American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies  

It's that time of year folks.  Betting on American Idol Season 9.  And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below.  With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.

No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.

Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.

Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.

Odds to Win

There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.

All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.

A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.

Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.

Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol. 

Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.

If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.

Elimination Props

Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.

Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.

Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups

The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.

Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.