Hits Campana Salvage Wrap From Run

Baseball Betting Lines

Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In hindsight, perhaps Boston starter John Lackey should have pitched around Raul Ibanez. The Philadelphia left fielder clubbed a tiebreaking, solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Phillies edged the Red Sox, 2-1, in the middle test of a three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park.

 

Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Howie Kendrick's double-play ground ball provided the game's only run, as Dan Haren outdueled Jordan Zimmermann to help the Angels complete a three-game sweep of the Nationals, 1-0. Haren (8-5) allowed two hits, walked one, hit another and struck out six in 7 1/3 scoreless innings. The only hit he allowed prior to Ivan Rodriguez's one- out base hit in the eighth was Brian Bixler's bunt single in the fourth.

 

Scott Downs recorded the final two outs of the eighth, and Jordan Walden, who blew his previous three save chances, shook off a one-out double in the ninth to notch his 18th save of the season.

 

Haren had gone through a rough patch following a fast start to the season, as he gave up at least three runs in each of his previous six outings.

 

But on Wednesday he resembled the pitcher who threw to a 1.72 earned run average over his first 10 starts, retiring the first 10 bitters he faced and setting down nine in a row after plunking Jerry Hairston Jr. with one out in the fifth inning.

 

Game Notes

 

This was the Angels' first home sweep of the season...Haren picked up his first home win since April 12...Zimmermann pitched into the seventh inning in each of his six starts in June and gave up a total of four earned runs in 42 1/3 innings...Hairston exited the game after getting hit in his right hand by a Haren pitch in the fifth...Game time: 2:19.

 

Seth Smith came up with the catch on the run and made a strong throw to the plate, but it short-hopped and Chris Iannetta was unable to come up with the ball as the White Sox took a 3-2 lead.

 

After an intentional walk to Pablo Sandoval, Campana missed a diving attempt at a catch of an Aubrey Huff hit to right-center. Marmol (2-2), though, got Cody Ross to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

 

Dempster, who threw 83 pitches, outdueled two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum in what turned out to be a great mound matchup. Dempster allowed three hits and fanned six without walking a batter. Lincecum had nine strikeouts over his seven innings.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In 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.

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