Rockies hope to extend charge as they battle Reds
Baseball Betting Lines
09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- Don't look now, but the Colorado Rockies may about to be putting together one of those strong September runs that has propelled them into the postseason in years past.
After climbing back into the National League West race with a needed sweep of the division leader in their last series, the Rockies will have their playoff legitimacy tested when the team with the best record in the Senior Circuit, the Cincinnati Reds, pays a visit to Coors Field for a four-game set which begins this afternoon.
Colorado has prevailed in 10 of its past 14 contests and pulled within 4 1/2 games of free-falling San Diego in the NL West standings after winning all three meetings with the Padres over the weekend. The Rockies completed the sweep with Sunday's 4-2 triumph in which Melvin Mora came through with a tie- breaking two-run single in the top of the seventh inning.
"We've done a great job in this series and as of late of taking advantage of things that are there in front of us," said Colorado manager Jim Tracy after Sunday's result. "At this time of year, that is what you have to do."
September surges are certainly nothing new to the Rockies. The club won 14 of its final 15 regular-season tests to claim the NL Wild Card during its memorable 2007 season, and went 10-1 to start the month last season to nail down another playoff berth.
Troy Tulowitzki homered and also knocked in a pair of runs during yesterday's victory, while Carlos Gonzalez finished 3-for-5 for Colorado to raise his NL- leading average to .337. The standout outfielder is batting a scorching .529 (27-for-51) with six homers and 16 RBI over the course of a current 13-game hitting streak.
Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa (6-4) held the sputtering Padres to two runs over the first six innings, with relievers Matt Belisle and Huston Street combining for three scoreless frames the rest of the way.
Colorado now returns home to take on a tough Cincinnati squad that tops the NL with a 79-57 record and holds a seven-game advantage on second-place St. Louis in the Central Division, although the Cardinals closed the gap a bit by taking two of three matchups from the Reds this past weekend.
St. Louis came through with a 4-2 come-from-behind win in Sunday's rubber match, with ex-Rockie Matt Holliday's three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning providing the deciding margin.
Cincinnati had broken a scoreless tie on Orlando Cabrera's two-run double in the top of the fifth, but mustered just five other hits off Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter and three relievers on the afternoon.
Homer Bailey (3-3) gave up Holliday's go-ahead blast and allowed four runs in all while striking out four batters in six innings of work.
The Reds still lead the NL in both team batting average and runs scored, but their potent offense figures to receive a challenge from Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez in today's opener. The 2010 All-Star Game starter is locked in a three-way tie for the league lead with 17 wins, even though he's been stuck on that number for more than a month now.
Jimenez has gone 0-4 over five starts that followed an August 4 verdict over San Francisco, but can't be solely to blame for his drought. The hard-throwing right-hander has posted a 3.00 earned run average over that winless stretch, with the Rockies scoring two times or less in each of those defeats.
The native Dominican had some more tough luck this past Wednesday in San Francisco, where he limited the Giants to two runs on four hits while striking out 10 over eight strong innings. Nonetheless, he came out on the short end of a 2-1 decision.
Jimenez has been tough to beat at Coors Field this year, however, with the 26- year-old sporting an 8-1 mark along with a 3.16 ERA in 12 home starts. In four career encounters with the Reds, he's 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA.
Aaron Harang draws the assignment for the Reds in today's opener and will be making his second start since coming back from a two-month stint on the disabled list because of recurring back spasms. The towering right-hander pitched four innings in his return and allowed three runs (one earned) on eight hits while walking three batters in Tuesday's no-decision versus Milwaukee.
Harang is 6-7 with a 4.92 ERA over 18 starts this season, but only one of those wins has come on the road. The veteran has fared well at hitter-friendly Coors Field in the past, however, having compiled a 2-1 record with a 3.15 ERA over three previous starts at the spacious venue.
The 31-year-old is 4-2 lifetime against the Rockies and has a 3.00 ERA over those six starts.
Harang was on the mound for Cincinnati's last win at Coors Field, which took place on August 22, 2008. The Reds have lost six in a row to the Rockies in Denver following that outing and are just 3-15 over the last 18 meetings between these teams.
Cincinnati did win two of three bouts against Colorado at Great American Ball Park from July 16-18, however.
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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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