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07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals aim for their fifth straight win and a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers when the two storied franchises close out their series today at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis' last four-game sweep of the Dodgers occurred from July 13-16, 2006 in the Gateway City. The Cardinals have outscored the Dodgers, 17-5, in the first three portions of this series and are coming off Saturday's 2-0 victory behind Adam Wainwright's 14th win of the season. Wainwright threw six shutout innings to improve to 10-0 in 10 starts at home and Ryan Franklin got the final out of the game for his 17th save.
"For the starting pitchers, working and sweating, for Wainwright to go six innings out there on three days' rest. That was clutch and outstanding," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Skip Schumaker and Brendan Ryan had an RBI apiece, while Albert Pujols finished 0-for-3 with a run scored for St. Louis, which is still a half-game behind Cincinnati for the NL Central lead and will welcome Philadelphia to Busch Stadium for four games after this set with LA.
Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan is still in search of his first win of the season and will handle pitching duties this afternoon. Suppan was 0-2 in 15 games (2 starts) with Milwaukee before being picked up by St. Louis, and is 0-3 with a 4.88 earned run average in five starts with his new club.
The right-hander has lost three straight trips to the hill and previously performed on July 10 in a 4-1 setback at Houston. Suppan gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of work to fall to 0-5 overall this season. He hasn't posted a decision in two relief appearances against the Dodgers this season.
Suppan is 4-4 with a 4.02 ERA in 12 lifetime meetings (10 starts) with LA.
Los Angeles hopes to salvage the finale of this series after losing the first three installments. Hiroki Kuroda was dealt the tough-luck loss last night and allowed one run and four hits in six innings with eight strikeouts.
Rafael Furcal and Blake DeWitt had two hits apiece, and slugger Manny Ramirez missed the game with an injured calf. Catcher Russell Martin also did not play Saturday due to a balky thumb and both players are day-to-day.
"You've got to give Wainwright a lot of credit," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He gets you in a situation where he's got so many weapons."
Torre will hand the ball to streaking starter Vicente Padilla today and he has won three consecutive starts. He previously won on Sunday in a 7-0 blanking of the Chicago Cubs, as Padilla delivered eight shutout innings and six strikeouts to improve to 4-2 in nine starts with a 4.04 ERA.
Padilla, 1-1 in five road starts this season, will face St. Louis for the first time in 2010. He is 2-1 with a 3.68 ERA in seven career games, three of which have been starts, against the Cardinals.
The Dodgers, who are 4 1/2 games off the NL West lead, swept a three-game set at home versus the Cardinals from June 7-9 after losing five of seven to the club last season.
<< Kearns lifts Tribe to doubleheader sweep of Detroit
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austin Kearns hit an RBI single in the
bottom of the 11th inning, as the Cleveland Indians edged the Detroit Tigers,
2-1, in the second part of a doubleheader.
Robbie Weinhardt (0-1) put runners on
<< Padres hit four homers in win over Diamondbacks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Gwynn Jr. hit his second inside-the-
park home run of the season and Yorvit Torrealba drove in four, as the San
Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-5, at Petco Park.
Gwynn, who has onl
<< Sandoval, Giants handle Mets
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-4 with three
RBI and a run scored as the San Francisco Giants took an 8-4 decision over the
New York Mets in the third of a four-game set.
Buster Posey hit a solo home run an
<< Rivera's HR lifts Angels to win over M's
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Rivera went 3-for-4 and hit the go-ahead
home run in the seventh inning, lifting the Angels to a 7-6 victory over the
Seattle Mariners.
Mike Napoli went 2-for-4 with a home run for the Angels, who had
Braves, Brewers conclude set at Turner Field >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves are shooting for a split of a four-game
series with the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday afternoon, when the two ballclubs
wrap up a lengthy set from Turner Field.
The Braves have dropped two in a row and t
Phillies try to even series with Cubs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies needed some late heroics to stop
the Chicago Cubs yesterday afternoon and hope that the momentum will carry
over into this evening's finale of a four-game series from Wrigley Field.
The Phil
Pirates go with Maholm in finale vs. Astros >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lefty Paul Maholm can establish a rarity for the 2010
Pittsburgh Pirates -- a win streak -- when they host the Houston Astros in the
finale of a three-game weekend series today at PNC Park.
The Pirates had lost sev
Cook leads Rockies into finale at Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suburban Cincinnati native Aaron Cook returns home to face
a team that's never beaten him today, when the Colorado Rockies head to Great
American Ball Park to meet the Reds in the finale of a three-game series.
The host
Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds
Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.
The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.
Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.
MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)
Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)
Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.
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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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