Berkman clubs two homers to help Astros crown Royals
Baseball Betting Lines
06/25/2009 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lance Berkman hit a pair of two-run homers and reached the 1,000 RBI plateau as the Houston Astros edged the Kansas City Royals, 5-4, in the finale of a three-game interleague set at Minute Maid Park.
Kaz Matsui had a sacrifice fly, while Carlos Lee doubled, walked twice and scored three times for the Astros, who managed to avoid being swept in the series. Houston has split its last six games overall.
Brian Moehler worked five innings, but earned a no-decision. The veteran right-hander allowed four runs -- one earned -- on five hits, struck out three and walked a pair. Wesley Wright (2-1) was credited with the win after tossing 1 1/3 innings of shutout baseball and recording four strike outs. Jose Valverde picked up his sixth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning.
Mark Teahen finished 2-for-4 with two RBI for Kansas City, which has dropped six of eight.
Brian Bannister (5-5) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in six innings of work. He fanned three and walked two.
With Kansas City leading 4-3, the Astros went ahead in the sixth when Lee drew a leadoff walk and Berkman cracked his second homer of the game, a shot that just cleared the left-field wall to push Houston in front 5-4.
The Astros bullpen shut down the Royals in the seventh and eighth innings and Valverde came on for the ninth and retired the side in order.
Teahen's RBI single in the top of the second scored Jose Guillen, who led off with a double and took third on a fly ball to give the Royals the early lead. Then in the home half, Lee got the inning started with a two-bagger and crossed the plate on Berkman's blast into the left-field seats.
The Royals plated a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to grab a brief 3-2 lead. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Mike Jacobs grounded to first. Berkman attempted to get the lead runner at second, but Miguel Tejada was unable to handle the throw and Alberto Callaspo came in to score. Teahen's RBI double brought in another. Matsui's sac fly in the bottom of the frame tied things at 3-3.
A throwing error on Astros catcher Humberto Quintero in the fifth allowed David DeJesus to come in, putting KC back on top.
Game Notes
Kansas City will continue its six-game interleague road trip against Pittsburgh on Friday, while the Astros welcome Detroit to Minute Maid Park for the start of a three-game set...Berkman became the third Astros player to reach the 1,000 RBI mark, joining Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.
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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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