05/20/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's business as usual this season for St. Louis Cardinals All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols.
Pujols, a model of consistency his entire career, is marking up the stat sheets at a torrid pace and keeping the Cardinals within striking distance of the Chicago Cubs for first in the NL Central. Pujols is a triple-crown threat every season, but needs to knock in more runs to have a shot this year. However, he is currently fourth in the majors with a .364 batting average, fifth with 11 homers and near the mid-way mark with 31 runs batted in.
Pujols, who occupies almost 10 pages in the 2008 St. Louis media guide, is tops in the big leagues with 41 walks and a .495 on-base percentage. He has hit in 26 of the last 28 games (38-for-103) for a solid .369 average, and is coming off Monday's win over San Diego in which he belted a pair of home runs to highlight a 16-hit attack in an 8-2 triumph. Pujols has a pair of multi-homer games this season and 22 in his Hall of Fame career. He currently owns five multi-hit games in the last six contests, and is hitting .444 (12-for-27) with six runs scored and five RBI during that stretch.
The 6-3, 230-pound Dominican is an intimidating presence at the plate, especially with the way he pumps his bat in the air. The sweet-swinging Pujols is just seven home runs shy for 300 in his career and is on pace to extend his records of 30-homer and 100-RBI seasons to eight. With his patience and skills to hit in the clutch, Pujols is a big reason why the Cardinals are just two games behind the Cubs in the Central standings. And don't forget how this hitting machine continues to compete with a nagging elbow problem.
"He's possibly the greatest right-handed hitter of all time, so any time he gets pitches to hit, he's going to do some damage," said teammate Ryan Ludwick after Monday's game in San Diego. "He's done it his whole life. Any time he gets going and he gets pitched to, I have a feeling we're going to put more runs on the board."
Ludwick bats in the No. 4 spot behind the great Pujols, and is not too shabby either. In 17 games this month, Ludwick is hitting .400 with eight homers, 18 RBI and a .927 slugging percentage. He is batting .350 with 12 home runs and 32 runs batted in this year.
Pujols, the 2005 NL MVP, and Ludwick will take their cracks again at the Padres on Tuesday at Petco Park. Greg Maddux is scheduled to take the hill in San Diego, while Pujols is hitting .333 with three homers and six RBI in his career against the savvy right-hander.
ANKIEL MISSES THIRD STRAIGHT GAME
Cardinals outfielder and converted pitcher Rick Ankiel has missed his last three games because of a nagging shoulder injury suffered against Tampa Bay on May 16. He went 0-for-4 at the plate against the Rays that day.
"He's improving," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's on the active list. We'll see how he feels and how much we can use him."
Ankiel is hitting .285 with seven homers and 21 RBI in 40 games this season. Before going hitless against the Rays, Ankiel was riding a nine-game hitting streak in which he collected a pair of homers and five runs batted in.
The Fort Pierce, Florida native said he may be back in the St. Louis lineup in a day or two.
MULDER UPDATE
Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder has been a hot topic for all the wrong reasons this season. The injured hurler suffered another setback in his rehabilitation stint after undergoing left shoulder surgery.
Mulder initially underwent the procedure at the end of the 2006 season, and was able to make three appearances in 2007 before needing more work done. It appeared Mulder's labrum had healed after the first surgery but another procedure on his rotator cuff was necessary.
The southpaw is expected to miss a scheduled start for Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday because of the problem after making five rehab appearances in April and May. Mulder is currently hampered with a mild rotator cuff strain and the team described his condition as a "lack of range of motion in his left shoulder due to capsular irritation."
Mulder, who is expected to continue his rehab assignment in 10-14 days, is 103-60 with a 4.18 earned run average in 202 career starts with Oakland and St. Louis. He was a vital cog for the A's years ago when they also had Barry Zito and Tim Hudson in the rotation.
WHO'S HOT
Pujols will remain on this list for a long time. Ludwick also gets a nod, but so does starting pitcher Todd Wellemeyer. Wellemeyer is unbeaten in his last four starts (3-0) and owns a 1.88 ERA during that span. He has pitched at least five innings in every outing this season, and is 5-1 with a 3.25 earned run average through 10 starts.
Wellemeyer defeated the Padres on Monday, allowing a pair of runs and six hits in six innings of an 8-2 victory. He got some help from Pujols that game too.
WHO'S NOT
Third baseman Troy Glaus will be picked on until he starts putting up some decent numbers. Glaus, in his first season with St. Louis, is batting .269 with two homers and 28 RBI this season. He has been playing well over the last week or so, but hasn't contributed that much to the cause.
ON DECK
The Cardinals just went 3-3 on a six-game homestand before opening a six-game trek out west with Monday's 8-2 triumph against the Padres. They will also visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games.
St. Louis has won three in a row and is searching for its first four-game winning streak since the first week of the 2008 campaign. The Cardinals won a season-high five in a row after losing to Colorado on Opening Day.
La Russa's ballclub is 10-10 so far away from Busch Stadium.
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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook
Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds. The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.
Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.
Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).
Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.
World Series odds
Adam Dunn 15-1
Albert Pujols 5-1
Alex Rodriguez 12-1
Alfonso Soriano 15-1
Andruw Jones 25-1
Barry Bonds 50-1
Carlos Delgado 40-1
David Ortiz 8-1
Jermaine Dye 40-1
Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1
Lance Berkman 40-1
Manny Ramirez 20-1
Richie Sexson 40-1
Ryan Howard 6-1
Travis Hafner 20-1
Vladimir Guerrero 40-1
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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 won’t 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 doesn’t focus only on your opponent’s 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. Where’s 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, don’t 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 won’t be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, I’m 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.
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