Braves send Hanson to hill against Washington

Baseball Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie phenom Tommy Hanson looks for a fifth straight victory today when the Atlanta Braves visit our nation's capital for a holiday afternoon game with the host Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

Hanson, who'll turn 23 later this month, was called to the majors earlier this season upon the release of veteran southpaw Tom Glavine.

He was touched for six hits and six runs against Milwaukee in his no-decision debut on June 7, but has been stellar since while allowing just two runs in 23 innings.

The effort earned him National League Rookie of the Month honors for June.

The two runs came in a 7-2 defeat of Baltimore on June 12 and three straight scoreless outings have since followed, in which Hanson has beaten Cincinnati, the New York Yankees and Boston while surrendering nine hits in 17 1/3 innings.

The Braves have outscored their opposition in those games, 13-1.

For the Nationals, lefty John Lannan goes for his own fourth straight victory.

The Long Beach, N.Y. native was just 2-5 after a 4-2 loss at Philadelphia on May 31 before going 3-0 with two no-decisions in five June starts.

He got to .500 with a 5-3 win at Baltimore on June 28, in which he gave up six hits and three runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Lannan faced the Braves twice in his initial four starts this season, going 0-1 while giving up 14 hits and four runs in 13 innings. Lifetime against Atlanta, he is 2-2 with a 3.30 earned run average.

The Nationals are 6-10 in games he's pitched.

On Friday, Brooks Conrad's first home run of his career was a pinch-hit, three-run shot to lift the Braves to a 9-8 win, extending their win streak to a season-best five games. .

Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar and Matt Diaz each had two RBI while Martin Prado crossed the plate three times for Atlanta, which can get back to .500 with a win today.

Kenshin Kawakami started on the mound, but lasted just 4 1/3 innings as he was charged with five runs -- four earned -- on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

Boone Logan (1-0) got the win for throwing 1 2/3 perfect innings.

Adam Dunn hit the 299th home run of his career while Nyjer Morgan went 0-for-4 with a walk, one stolen base and a run scored in his debut with the Nationals, who have dropped four straight and six of seven.

Ross Detwiler was tagged for five runs on 10 hits with two walks and a strikeout in just 3 1/3 innings. Jesus Colome (1-1) was saddled with the loss.

Atlanta has won five of its seven matchups with the Nats this season after Washington took 12 of the 18 meetings a year ago.

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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.