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08/29/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBI, as the Colorado Rockies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-5, in the rubber match of a three-game series at Coors Field.
Dexter Fowler chipped in with two triples and three RBI, while Ryan Spilborghs added a solo homer for Colorado, which have won six of its last seven.
Jason Hammel (9-7), 1-4 with a 4.82 earned run average in his previous eight starts coming in, worked 5 1/3 innings and yielded two runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out seven in taking the victory. He also added an RBI single among two hits.
Ryan Theriot had two hits and a pair of RBI for the Dodgers, who had won four in a row before dropping the last two games of the series.
Ted Lilly (8-9), who had won his five previous starts with the Dodgers since being acquired from the Chicago Cubs, was roughed up for seven runs on nine hits in four frames. The veteran lefty struck out eight and walked one.
The Rockies plated a run in the second and third innings to grab the early advantage. Todd Helton led off the second with a double and crossed the plate two batters later on Chris Ianetta's two-bagger to center. Gonzalez then hit a two-out solo homer to right in the third.
In the fourth, Colorado broke it open by pushing across five two-out runs. Jonathan Herrera started things with a triple and scored on Hammel's base hit to center. After Eric Young Jr. drew a walk, Fowler brought in a pair with a three-bagger to right. Gonzalez capped the inning with a two-run homer to right field to put the hosts ahead 7-0.
Jay Gibbons' RBI single in the fifth got the Dodgers on the board, but Spilborghs' solo homer in the bottom portion got the run back. A run-scoring double by James Loney in the sixth made it 8-2. During the sixth inning, Dodgers' pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez took a called strike at the knees on the first pitch of the at-bat and was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom.
LA got to the Rockies bullpen for three in the top of the eighth on a pinch- hit RBI single from Ronnie Belliard and two-run single by Theriot. It could have been more, but Loney grounded out to shortstop with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Fowler's RBI triple and sac fly from Gonzalez in the home half put Colorado up 10-5.
Huston Street worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the win.
Game Notes
Despite the loss, Los Angeles has still won seven of 12 meetings with Colorado this season and 21 of the last 30 contests in this series...Lilly, who pitched to a 1.83 ERA in 34 1/3 innings with the Dodgers coming into the contest, fell to 4-2 in seven lifetime starts against Colorado.
<< Said nips Papis for Montreal Nationwide win
Montreal, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boris Said finally became a first-time
winner in one of NASCAR's national touring series after he edged Max Papis by
inches at the finish line in Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series
race at
<< Uihlein wins U.S. Amateur Championship
University Place, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Uihlein defeated David Chung, 4
& 2 on Sunday to win the 110th U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay.
It will be a happy 21st birthday for the Oklahoma State University star.
"I hope
<< Blue Jays to shut down Morrow after next start
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brandon Morrow will
be shut down for the season following his next start on September 3 against
the New York Yankees.
The right-hander is 10-6 with a 4.27 earned run average
<< French helps Mariners get by Twins
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luke French tossed seven strong innings to
help the Seattle Mariners take a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins in the
finale of a three-game set.
French (3-4) was charged with just one run on three hi
Persistently defeats Rachel Alexandra in Personal Ensign Stakes >>
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Persistently, ridden by Alan Garcia,
caught 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in late stretch to capture
Sunday's $300,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Winning
trainer
Raburn's homers and Porcello's pitching help Tigers pound Jays >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Porcello spun seven solid innings and Ryan
Raburn belted two home runs, finishing with four RBI, as the Detroit Tigers
pounded Toronto, 10-4, to salvage a split of a four-game series at Rogers
Centre.
Sanchez, Giants rally past Diamondbacks >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddy Sanchez had three hits, knocked
in two runs and scored a run to push San Francisco past Arizona, 9-7, in a
back and forth affair in the last of a three-game set.
Andres Torres added two h
Red Sox claim Napoli off waivers >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have claimed Angels catcher/
infielder Mike Napoli off waivers.
Napoli, who has spent his entire five-year career with Los Angeles, was not in
the Angels' starting lineup for Sunday's game ag
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.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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