Hanson ends long drought as Braves top Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

09/01/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Hanson won for the first time since early July and Jason Heyward finished with four hits, as Atlanta downed the New York Mets, 4-1, in the third of four games at Turner Field.

Hanson (9-10) had not won since July 3 versus Florida, but he gave up just one hit and one walk with three strikeouts over seven scoreless frames. Heyward had two doubles, an RBI and scored once. Omar Infante set the table in front of him with three hits and two runs scored and Martin Prado knocked in a pair for the Braves, who have won five straight games.

The Braves stayed three games in front of the Phillies for first place in the National League East.

Mike Pelfrey (13-8) was sacked with the loss, giving up four runs on nine hits with two strikeouts over five frames. Luis Hernandez drove in the lone run for the Mets, who have dropped four of five overall.

Atlanta attacked Pelfrey right out of the chute with a pair of runs in the first. Infante singled in front of Heyward's opposite-field two-bagger. Prado pulled a 2-1 sinker down the left-field line for a two-run double to get the Braves on the scoreboard.

In their next at-bat, the Braves picked up where they left out with Rick Ankiel's one-out base hit. He moved to second on Hanson's bunt and scored on Infante's single to left. Heyward again came through with an RBI double, this one sharply hit tight to the left-field line for a 4-0 edge.

Atlanta threatened for more in the home fourth, but Carlos Beltran charged an Infante single to center and threw a low bullet that took two hops before finding Josh Thole's waiting glove in time to tag out a sliding Ankiel.

The Mets scored their lone run in the eighth when Hernandez's single up the middle plated Ike Davis.

Billy Wagner threw the ninth inning for his 31st save.

Game Notes

Braves right-handed starting pitcher Derek Lowe was scratched from his scheduled Friday start due to lingering pain in his right below. Kenshin Kawakami will start in his place...The Mets have a 9-19 mark in their last 28 road games...Heyward extended his hitting streak to seven games...Ankiel had a pair of hits.

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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.