White Sox shoot for another win over Mariners

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A trip to the West Coast and a couple of matchups with a struggling Seattle squad seems to have gotten the Chicago White Sox back on track. The current American League Central leaders will try to remain unbeaten against the Mariners this season when the two teams conclude a three-game series tonight at Safeco Field.

Chicago entered this series off three consecutive defeats to rival Minnesota, which closed the Twins within 1 1/2 games of the White Sox in the division standings, but has been able to rebound at the expense of the hapless Mariners. After coming through with a 6-1 victory in the series opener, Chicago received excellent pitching for a second straight night in Tuesday's 4-0 triumph over Seattle.

John Danks (10-7) limited the Mariners' anemic offense to two hits and struck out eight over the first 7 2/3 innings to notch his 10th win of the season, with J.J. Putz and Bobby Jenks recording the final five outs to complete the shutout.

"I felt good," Danks said afterward. "It was a good game. We scored some runs and as a staff were able to shut them out."

Alexei Ramirez paced the White Sox offensively by going 3-for-4 with a solo homer, while Alex Rios went 2-for-3 and added an RBI single to help Chicago post its 11th win in the past 14 games.

With Minnesota and Detroit both losing on Tuesday, the White Sox now hold a 3 1/2-game advantage on the Twins and Tigers in the AL Central race.

Doug Fister (3-6) was saddled with the loss for Seattle, now a woeful 3-14 for the month of July, after giving up three runs over the first six innings.

"When you're having trouble scoring runs, John Danks is not the guy you want to see," said Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu following the loss.

Chicago has now taken all five meetings with Seattle this season, having won three straight matchups between the teams at U.S. Cellular Field back in April. With a win tonight, the White Sox can produce their first three-game road sweep of the Mariners since June 24-26, 1994, when Seattle still played its games at the Kingdome.

Tonight's finale will feature an intriguing pitching matchup, with the Mariners set to send out staff ace Felix Hernandez against resurgent Chicago righty Gavin Floyd.

While Seattle as a team has clearly failed to meet expectations in 2010, Hernandez hasn't disappointed despite entering this evening's tilt with a rather ordinary 7-6 record. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award runner-up's 2.90 earned run average is fifth-best in the league, and he ranks second among Junior Circuit hurlers with 134 strikeouts while throwing an AL-best 145 2/3 innings.

Hernandez has worked seven innings or more in each of his last seven outings and notched five complete games during that span, and had posted four straight winning decisions prior to dropping a 3-2 verdict to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday. The All-Star right-hander allowed all three Anaheim runs and 10 hits in going the distance once again.

During his six-start unbeaten streak, Hernandez had registered a sensational 1.39 ERA and limited opposing hitters to a .177 average while fanning 52 batters in 5 1/3 innings.

Hernandez is just 2-2 with a 3.74 over seven lifetime starts against Chicago, but did not allow a run over a combined 15 innings in two encounters with the White Sox last season.

Floyd also had an impressive unbeaten stretch come to an end in his initial start out of the All-Star break, when the former first-round pick surrendered four runs -- only one of which was earned -- in a five-inning stint at Minnesota this past Friday. He had won three consecutive assignments to finish out the first half.

The 27-year-old has bounced back nicely from a poor first two months of the season. Floyd had a substandard 6.64 ERA as of June 2, but has lowered that number to 4.10 by yielding one run or fewer in six of his last eight starts.

Floyd didn't fare that well in a showdown with the Mariners in Chicago back on April 23, permitting five runs in 6 1/3 innings while receiving a no-decision, and is an unwanted 1-4 with a 7.41 ERA in nine career games (seven starts) against Seattle. He's also lost in all three of his previous starts at Safeco Field and pitched to a brutal 9.49 ERA during those contests.

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Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

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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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