Berkman leads Astros over Pirates in Houston

Baseball Betting Lines

07/06/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lance Berkman homered and drove in three runs to back seven sturdy innings from Wandy Rodriguez in Houston's 6-2 win over Pittsburgh in the opener of a three-game set.

Michael Bourn had two hits and scored twice and Jeff Keppinger added three hits and drove in a run as the Astros snapped a three-game slide.

Rodriguez (6-10) struck out a season-high 10 and yielded just a single run on four hits and a pair of walks for Houston, which has won all four meetings between the teams this season.

Houston area-native Brad Lincoln (1-3) suffered the loss in his homecoming after being charged with five runs on seven hits and a walk over five frames for the Pirates, who lost for just the second time in their last six games.

Bourn used his speed to create the first of two runs in the first for the Astros. He led off with an infield single off the glove of Lincoln, stole second, moved to third on a fly out and scored on a Berkman ground out. Carlos Lee then clubbed a solo home run to left-center to make it 2-0.

Bourn started a three-run rally in the third with a one-out single and came in to score on a Keppinger double that was followed by Berkman's two-run blast to left for a 5-0 game.

The Pirates dented the scoreboard in the next half inning when Ryan Doumit singled home Andrew McCutchen, who started the frame with a base hit and went to third on a one-out single by Pedro Alvarez. A base hit by Lastings Milledge then loaded the bases but the Pirates could not produce any more runs after Bobby Crosby fouled out and Lincoln struck out.

Hunter Pence doubled home Lee in the seventh off Javy Lopez to extend the lead to 6-1.

Wilton Lopez took over for Rodriguez in the eighth and was lifted with one out and a runner on second and followed by Tim Byrdak, who gave up a base hit to Garrett Jones that cut the Astros' lead to 6-2. The veteran southpaw then retired Alvarez and Doumit to end the threat.

Game Notes

Lincoln grew up in Clute, TX and lives in Pearland, TX...He was expecting somewhere between 150-200 family and friends to be at the game...His first career start for the University of Houston came in the College Classic at Minute Maid Park on February 15, 2004 against nationally-ranked Texas...He played in the same tournament a year later against then 10th-ranked Baylor and had three hits and drove in a run...The Astros improved to 20-6 against the Pirates since September 8, 2008...Keppinger extended his hitting streak to eight games and has 26 multi-hit games on the season...Rodriguez is 6-4 in 13 career starts against the Buccos...Alvarez extended his hitting streak to eight games...The Pirates fell to 12-42 when scoring fewer than four runs.

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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.

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