 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Orioles, Nationals open set at Camden YardsBaseball Betting Lines06/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The woeful Baltimore Orioles enter the weekend with momentum - sort of - when they begin a three-game interleague series with the nearby Washington Nationals tonight at Camden Yards. Baltimore, which has five fewer wins than any team in the majors and has won just 12 times in 35 home games, picked up a rare 'W' on Thursday night when it downed Florida, 11-5, to wrap up a three-game series. Miguel Tejada hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBI and three runs scored as the Orioles avoided a sweep. Craig Tatum posted three hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Julio Lugo scored twice with an RBI for the Orioles, who put the brakes on a three-game skid. Adam Jones homered and Luke Scott drove in two runs in the victory. Kevin Millwood (2-8) started for Baltimore and picked up the win after he tossed five innings and allowed four runs on eight hits. Precocious right-hander Jake Arrieta, who turned 24 in March, makes the fourth start of his brief major-league career for the Orioles, who trail the first- place New York Yankees by 25 games in the American League's East Division. A fifth-round draft pick in 2007 out of Texas Christian, Arrieta debuted on June 10 against the Yankees and picked up a 4-3 win after allowing four hits and three runs in six innings. He made it two straight with an interleague road win at San Francisco five days later, before losing for the first time on June 20 at San Diego after allowing five hits and six runs in just three innings. Overall, in 16 big-league innings, Arrieta has walked nine and struck out nine while surrendering 12 hits and nine earned runs. Washington, which has won 13 times in 37 road tries, counters with 27-year-old righty J.D. Martin, who made 15 starts as a rookie last season and is still seeking win No. 1 in 2010. The California native was 5-4 with a 4.44 earned run average in his 2009 unveiling, allowing an opposition batting average of .279 and striking out 37 batters in 77 innings. He reached the rotation this season on May 29 against San Diego and dropped a 4-2 verdict, and has since lost two of three with a no-decision in spite of allowing only 10 earned runs in 25 1/3 innings and walking one batter with 18 strikeouts. Martin, who's been charged with two road losses in three starts, has never faced the Orioles. On Wednesday, Jose Guillen's single in the fifth inning scored David DeJesus with the only run of the game, as the Kansas City Royals defeated Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals, 1-0, in the finale of a three-game interleague series. Adam Dunn had two of the six hits for the Nationals, who despite winning the series, have dropped seven of nine. Strasburg (2-1) was saddled with his first major league loss in his fourth career start. The rookie right-hander worked six innings, allowing one run on nine hits and fanning nine without issuing a walk. He threw 95 pitches, 75 for strikes. The former No. 1 overall pick lowered his earned run average to 1.78 and has now struck out 41 batters in 25 1/3 innings this season. Washington took two of three from the O's earlier in the year.
<< With Valentine rumors swirling, Marlins open set with Padres
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place San Diego Padres continue their early- summer tour of Florida tonight when they venture to Miami to open a three-game set with the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. Leading by 2 1/2 games over the San Francisco
<< Clijsters, Henin among third-round winners at Wimbledon
<< Isner bows out quickly after marathon match
<< Clijsters cruises into fourth round at Wimbledon
<< Inside the NBA Draft: CBA is league's biggest problem
No shortage of storylines in opener between Diamondbacks and Rays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There are plenty of storylines to choose from this evening when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays begin a three-game set at Tropicana Field. Edwin Jackson will be facing the Rays for the first time since being de
Red-hot Rangers go for a dozen in clash with Astros >>
Angels, Rockies hope to make some noise in Anaheim >>
Pelfrey tries to pitch Mets past Twins at Citi Field >>
Greinke to go for Royals in opener with Cards >>
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree. And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so. Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal. So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them. Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.) The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money. As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached. The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs. In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season. Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done. And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting. So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year. There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve. So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal. And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million. There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.) Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft. Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey. Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year. So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
|
