Orioles make a stop at Angel Stadium
Baseball Betting Lines
08/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles got the Buck Showalter era off to a terrific start by sweeping a series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim earlier this month. They'll be aiming to duplicate that performance when these two teams go head-to-head again tonight in the opener of a three-game set from Angel Stadium.
In Showalter's first series as the club's manager, Baltimore won three consecutive matchups with the Angels at Camden Yards from August 3-5. That outcome sparked an 8-1 start for the Orioles under the veteran skipper, and they've gone a respectable 13-10 since making the change in leadership.
The Orioles have reverted back to their losing ways of late, however. The team has dropped eight of the last 12 tilts and is coming off a pair of setbacks in a three-game series at Chicago, which cruised to an 8-0 verdict over the Birds in Thursday's finale.
Baltimore mustered only three hits and struck out 10 times against Edwin Jackson in the White Sox starter's excellent eight innings of work.
"The biggest thing is he was just locating his fastball," Orioles outfielder Corey Patterson said of Jackson. "When you do that, all your other pitches work pretty effectively."
Jake Arrieta (4-6) wasn't nearly as effective for Baltimore, as the rookie lasted just four innings and was tagged for four runs on seven hits while issuing three walks.
The Orioles could fare better tonight, considering they've prevailed in each of scheduled starter Brad Bergesen's last four trips to the mound. The right- hander has done a good job keeping his squad in games lately, as he's 2-0 with a solid 3.06 earned run average over his five most recent outings and has pitched at least seven innings in all but one of those games.
Bergesen was reached for five runs and nine hits over seven frames in his last start, but still managed to notch his fifth win of the season after getting a wealth of run support in Saturday's 8-6 decision over Texas.
The second-year major leaguer has never previously faced the Angels and is 2-5 with a 5.96 ERA in nine road starts thus far in 2010.
Anaheim is still trying to hang on in the American League West race, as the three-time defending champions find themselves 9 1/2 games back of first-place Texas at the moment. The Angels didn't help their cause with a three-game losing streak earlier this week, but were able to bounce back with a 12-3 win over playoff-hopeful Tampa Bay Wednesday at the Big A.
Howie Kendrick had five of Anaheim's 17 hits in the rout, while Mike Napoli belted a third-inning grand slam and totaled a career-best six RBI on the afternoon. Hideki Matsui added a pair of hits and knocked in three runs, while Jeff Mathis finished 2-for-5 with a two-run double for the Angels.
The outburst made things easy for Dan Haren (2-4), though the Angels starter didn't need much help. The midseason acquisition held the Rays to a run and three hits while racking up eight strikeouts before leaving after six innings.
Anaheim would love to receive a similar showing out of Trevor Bell in tonight's opener. The young right-hander hasn't fared well in a starting role this season, however, having gone 0-2 with a lackluster 6.38 ERA in four previous turns in the team's rotation.
Bell walked six batters in his latest appearance, a 4 1/3-inning stint Saturday at Minnesota in which he surrendered three runs and did not receive a decision. He was sharp in relief his previous time out, though, delivering three shutout innings in an August 17 encounter with Boston.
The 23-year-old did make a start against the Orioles back on August 3 and turned in a solid effort, permitting just two runs and four hits while fanning five in a 5 1/3-inning no-decision.
Despite its sweep of the Halos earlier this month, Baltimore has still lost nine of the past 14 games in this overall series and dropped three of four bouts to the Angels in Anaheim last season.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
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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