Davis, Rays stay hot in victory over Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce homered off Ervin Santana, and Wade Davis pitched into the sixth inning in his first game off the disabled list, as the Rays topped the Angels, 10-3, for their fourth straight win.

Davis (10-9), who hadn't pitched since August 5 due to a right shoulder strain, won his fifth straight decision. The right-hander gave up six hits and two runs, while fanning five over 5 1/3 innings in the middle test of this three-game series.

"It's always nice to have a cushion out there," Davis said. "My shoulder was loose tonight. My command was pretty good. I lost it a little bit, but was able to get it back."

John Jaso singled in two runs during Tampa Bay's four-run second inning, on a night the Rays stayed tied for the lead in the AL East. They have won nine of 11 and are still even with the Yankees, who won at Toronto earlier Tuesday.

The Rays had never beaten the Angels in a series prior to this season, now they've done it twice, winning two of three games back in May. Prior to 2010, the Angels were 14-0-1 all-time at home in series vs. Tampa Bay.

Hideki Matsui had three hits, including a solo homer, for the Angels, who have lost three in a row and seven of nine. They now stand 10 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers. Howie Kendick homered for the Angels, who are 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position over these two games.

Santana (13-9) permitted eight hits and six runs over 5 1/3 frames and had a three-start winning streak snapped.

"We're definitely not bringing the level of play to the field that we should be," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's frustrating. We'll now see what we're made of."

It was tough-going in the second for Santana, who let the first four batters reach base. Among them was Dan Johnson's RBI double. Jaso's hit to center later in the frame made it 3-0. B.J. Upton stole third and scored on a Ben Zobrist sacrifice fly.

Matsui's ground-rule RBI double in the bottom half cut the deficit, but Longoria led off the next inning with his 19th homer of the year.

Joyce went deep in the sixth, prompting the Angels to replace Santana with Michael Kohn.

Matsui scored on Bobby Wilson's groundout in the bottom of the sixth, and the teams exchanged runs in the seventh. Longoria doubled home Zobrist and Kendrick tagged Lance Cormier for a homer to right field.

Carl Crawford added a two-run double off Brian Fuentes in the ninth and Joyce added a sacrifice fly.

The Angels loaded the bases against Andy Sonnanstine with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Matsui fanned and Juan Rivera grounded out.

Game Notes

Longoria had three hits...To clear a spot on the roster for Davis, the Rays optioned right-handed pitcher Mike Ekstrom to Triple-A Durham...Rays manager Joe Maddon was ejected in the fifth inning by second base umpire Angel Campos for arguing a caught stealing call against Longoria...Jeff Niemann is scheduled to come off the DL to start Wednesday afternoon for the Rays, while Dan Haren pitches for the Angels...Los Angeles went 1-for-14 with men in scoring position. The Angels are batting .192 (33-for-172) with RISP this month.

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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.