Braves aim to bounce back against Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose any ground in the competitive National League East Division. Tonight they have a good shot at bouncing back with Tim Hudson on the mound in the third test of a four-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers at Turner Field.

After taking the opener of this series by a 2-1 score on Thursday, the Braves dropped a 9-3 decision last night and starter Tommy Hanson was roughed up for four runs -- three earned -- in five innings to suffer the loss. Kenshin Kawakami did no better by allowing three runs in an inning of work.

"When you don't pitch and you don't play defense and you don't get any timely hits, that's a good formula for getting taken out behind the woodshed," Braves veteran Chipper Jones said.

Troy Glaus and Brain McCann both knocked in a run and Jones ended 0-for-3 for the Braves, who still lead the NL East by five games over New York and 5 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia. The Mets and Phils lost on Friday.

Atlanta lost for just the second time in seven tries and hopes Hudson can pitch the ballclub back into the win column. Hudson, who has alternated wins and losses over his previous seven decisions, pitched seven shutout innings in last Saturday's 4-0 road victory against the Mets.

Hudson allowed four hits, struck out three and issued a pair of walks to improve to 9-4 in 18 starts and lower his ERA to 2.30. He will try to remain dominant at home, as he sports a 5-2 record in seven trips to the Turner Field mound. Hudson will also face Milwaukee for a second time in 2010 and beat the Brewers back on May 11 at Miller Park, hurling six innings of one-run ball in an 11-3 rout.

The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.98 earned run average in seven career starts against the Brewers.

Milwaukee won for the fourth time in five tries with its six-run victory over the Braves and got a decent performance from starter Randy Wolf. The southpaw held the Braves to three runs and seven hits in six innings, while Todd Coffey, Zach Braddock, Kameron Loe and Trevor Hoffman went the rest of the way to preserve the win.

"I think I've only had a few good games in this stadium, but I felt pretty good today," Wolf said. "You have to have a good day to really pitch well here. It's gratifying to pitch well against a good team, especially knowing my history of definitely not being Cy Young in this stadium."

Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer, Prince Fielder knocked in a pair of runs and both Casey McGehee and Carlos Gomez recorded three hits for the Brewers, who are nine games off the pace in the NL Central and will also visit Pittsburgh for four contests on the trek.

Brewers starter Chris Narveson hopes his first career appearance against Atlanta goes better than he has fared lately. He'll take the hill tonight and is 7-6 with a 6.02 ERA in 23 games, 14 of which have been starts, this season.

Since winning two straight and three of four decisions, Narveson has dropped consecutive trips to the hill and is coming off a nightmare performance on July 7 in a 15-2 setback versus San Francisco. He was reached for 10 runs -- nine earned -- and nine hits through 3 1/3 innings.

The left-hander is 4-3 in 12 games (7 starts) as the guest in 2010.

The Braves had won five straight and seven of their last eight versus the Brewers before last night's game.

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SPORTS BETTING

NFL Football Betting Online

In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.

It is called the "pointspread."

Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.

But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.

A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.

In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.

The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .

Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.

Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook betting 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.