Angels vie to continue mastery of Mariners

Baseball Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim set their sights on a ninth straight victory over the Seattle Mariners as the two ballclubs wrap up a four-game set today at Angel Stadium.

On Saturday, 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 Mariners.

Mike Napoli went 2-for-4 with a home run for the Angels, who had also won the first two contests of this four-game series. Kevin Frandsen and Reggie Willits each added two hits and two RBI in the victory.

"We're swinging the bats much better, but we need contributions from a lot of guys," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "We were able to pressure them early in the game, and Juan has a track record of swinging the bat well as the season goes on."

The Angels have beaten the Mariners eight consecutive times and improved to 10-2 against them this season.

Justin Smoak went 3-for-4 with a double and homer, while Jose Lopez doubled twice for Seattle, which has dropped four in a row and fell to 2-12 in July.

Neither starter received a decision. Los Angeles' Joe Saunders allowed five runs (four earned) on 10 hits in six innings, while Seattle's Ryan Rowland- Smith last just 3 1/3 frames, in which he gave up six runs (five earned) on eight hits and a walk.

Jason Vargas gets the start for the Mariners today and he is hoping to build off a solid performance against the Yankees on July 8th. In that game, Vargas allowed one earned run and nine hits over seven innings of work. He did not receive a decision in the team's eventual 3-1 loss.

The left-hander has made four career appearances - three starts - versus the Angels, going 2-0 with a 2.82 ERA. He last faced them on June 6th, allowing four runs - three earned - and 10 hits in six innings. He did not factor in the decision, a 9-4 loss for the Mariners.

Countering for the Angels is Ervin Santana, who has dropped two consecutive starts. The right-hander wasn't at fault in his last appearance on July 8th, allowing just one earned run and three hits over eight innings of a 1-0 loss to the White Sox.

Santana has made 17 lifetime starts against Seattle, boasting a 7-4 record and a 4.19 ERA. He picked up the win against them on June 5th, allowing one run and seven hits in six inning of an 11-2 triumph.

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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.

NFL Betting Lines

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