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07/03/2010 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Cunningham scored on Gustavo Chacin's throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning in San Diego's 1-0 win over the Houston Astros.
Kevin Correia threw seven innings for the Padres, who won for the third time in four games. It was also their major league-best 12th shutout of the season.
Bud Norris also went seven strong innings for Houston, giving up three hits, walking three and fanning five, but the Astros were blanked for a second straight night. Chris Johnson had three hits, including a pair of doubles, in defeat.
Cunningham, recalled from Triple-A Portland earlier in the day when outfielder Will Venable went on the 15-day disabled list, stroked a pinch-hit double leading off the eighth against Chacin (1-1). Tony Gwynn Jr. then bunted to the left of the mound. Chacin ranged over, but his throw to first base bounced past a covering Jeff Keppinger, allowing the only run of the game.
Mike Adams (2-1) retired the side in order in the eighth to get the win and Heath Bell notched his 23rd save in the third installment of this four-game series.
Bell struck out Lance Berkman on a borderline 3-2 pitch at the knees for the first out of the ninth inning. Berkman briefly questioned the call by home plate umpire Ed Rapuano. Carlos Lee struck out before Jason Michaels singled up the middle, but Jason Castro popped up to shortstop to end the game.
Houston had runners on first and second in the fourth, but Lee grounded into a double play and then Hunter Pence grounded out, leaving Keppinger stranded at third.
Game Notes
Venable is out with lower back stiffness...Pence was ejected from the game by Rapuano in the seventh inning for arguing a called third strike...The last Padres team to have 12 shutouts was the 1990 club...The Padres (48-33) tied the 1984 club for the second best 81-game record in franchise history...The Padres have clinched a winning series against Houston, the first time that's happened since 2004...Astros starters have now posted a 0.67 ERA over their last four games...Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez didn't play due to a sore neck.
<< Report: Nowitzki staying with Mavs
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nine-time All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki is
reportedly staying with the Dallas Mavericks after coming to terms on a new
four-year contract.
Nowitzki's adviser, Holger Geschwindner, told the Dallas Mornin
<< Giants pound Jimenez, beat Rockies late
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andres Torres and Pablo Sandoval brought in runs
during a go-ahead two-run seventh, capping a wild back-and-forth affair at
Coors Field as the Giants held on for a 11-8 win over Colorado to snap a
season-
<< Hunter remains unbeaten as Rangers shut down ChiSox
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Hunter worked into the eighth inning
and Nelson Cruz had two hits and scored a run as Texas topped the Chicago
White Sox, 3-1, in the middle contest of a three-game set.
Hunter (5-0) allowed a
<< LaPorta's 10th-inning heroics get Tribe past A's
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt LaPorta bounced a base hit back through
the middle to chase home the winning run in the 10th, as Cleveland captured a
5-4 win against Oakland.
Travis Hafner lined a double into the right-center gap
Union, Goats battle to draw >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union and Chivas USA battled to
a 1-1 draw at The Home Depot Center in Major League Soccer action on Saturday
night.
Rookies Danny Mwanga and Blair Gavin scored for their respective clubs in t
Dodgers hammer sloppy D'Backs >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Furcal continued hit hot hitting,
homering and driving in three runs, and the Dodgers took advantage of an
Arizona-record six errors, five in the first three innings, as Los Angeles
crushed
Harvick prevails in Daytona wreck-fest >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Harvick won his second consecutive
restrictor-plate race by taking Saturday's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona
International Speedway.
Harvick, the current points leader, survived a rash of l
Ikeda cruises to three-shot win in Japan >>
Mie, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yuta Ikeda managed just a one-over 73 Sunday,
but it was more than enough to win the Toshin Golf Tournament at Toshin Lake
Wood Golf Club.
Ikeda finished the tournament at 17-under-par 271 for his fifth
The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.
They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.
"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."
Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.
New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.
Not so sound on the ground
If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.
Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com
“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.
Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.
Brees says bring it on
Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.
Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.
Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.
"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."
SportsBooks ready for a shootout
Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.
“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”
New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.
The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.
“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”
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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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