Surging Tigers try to extend lead over slumping Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers continue to lead the American League Central Division and will attempt to increase their advantage over the Minnesota Twins this afternoon at Comerica Park.

Nick Blackburn will be on the bump for Minnesota today with hopes of improving his 7-6 overall record and 6.00 ERA. Blackburn has allowed 127 hits in 93 innings, and has only struck out 33 batters. Against Tampa Bay on Sunday, he permitted four earned runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings en route to defeat.

The Minnesota righty is 2-0 with a 3.94 ERA this season against Detroit, however, an obvious reason for confidence heading into today's tilt. Blackburn is 4-3 lifetime versus the Tigers.

Detroit will hand the ball to Jeremy Bonderman. Having yet to go the distance through 16 starts, Bonderman is 4-6 with a 4.81 ERA. He has struggled mightily in his last three outings, yielding 15 runs on 25 hits in 16 1/3 innings. On Monday, the righty only lasted five innings against Seattle and gave up seven earned runs.

Bonderman is 1-0 this season against Minnesota, but he is just 4-6 with a 5.40 ERA lifetime versus the Twins.

On Friday, Magglio Ordonez had three hits and drove in three runs in Detroit's 7-3 victory in the opener of this crucial three-game intradivision set.

Carlos Guillen had two hits and drove in two runs, while Miguel Cabrera singled to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games for Detroit, which maintained its hold on the top spot in the AL Central. The Tigers lead second-place Chicago by a half-game, with the Twins now three off the pace in third.

Justin Verlander (11-5) made it through 5 1/3 innings to grab the win after being charged with a pair of runs on eight hits. The righty walked two and struck out seven for the Tigers, who have won four straight and six of seven.

Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano (6-7) was banged up to the tune of seven runs allowed on six hits, and walked two and hit a pair of batters over just 1 2/3 innings. It was his shortest effort of the year, and the Twins fell for a third consecutive game and for a fifth time in six tries.

"We came out and got some runs off a real good pitcher, it's not easy to do off [Liriano] -- he's really good," said Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland. "Verlander was sluggish and we had to use more pitchers than I would have liked to use in a game where we got that many runs to start. We didn't add on when we had a couple chances to do so."

Twins' first baseman Justin Morneau was not available for Friday's game, as he continues to suffer from concussion-like symptoms after getting accidentally kneed in the head by Toronto's John McDonald on Wednesday. Manager Ron Gardenhire said if Morneau does not play over the weekend, it is likely that he would not travel to Anaheim for the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Minnesota has won six of its 10 matchups with the Tigers this season despite Friday's defeat.

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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.

Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.