Reds subdue Brewers with 19-hit barrage

Baseball Betting Lines

07/28/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Rolen was one of three Cincinnati players with four hits and drove in three runs as the Reds walloped the Brewers, 12-4, snapping Milwaukee's five-game winning streak.

Brandon Phillips went 4-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored out of the lead-off spot, while Joey Votto also had four hits, drove in one and scored three times. Rolen singled four times and Ramon Hernandez knocked in three runs for Cincinnati, which bounced back from a 3-2 loss on Monday to beat the Brewers for the seventh time in the last eight tries.

Orlando Cabrera had three hits, an RBI and scored twice for the Reds, who moved into a virtual tie with St. Louis for first place in the NL Central.

While the Reds tied a season-high with 19 hits, they couldn't get Edinson Volquez a victory because the right-hander was lifted after 3 2/3 innings. In his third start of the year, Volquez allowed six hits and four runs and threw 95 pitches, 54 for strikes.

Logan Ondrusek (2-0) lasted 2 1/3 innings to record the victory.

Yovani Gallardo (9-5) clubbed a two-run homer, but was blasted on the mound for a season-high 10 hits along with six runs -- five earned -- over 2 2/3 frames. Rickie Weeks homered for a third straight game and for the 22nd time this year.

Brewers manager Ken Macha didn't want to waste a reliever in the ninth inning, so infielder Joe Inglett pitched the final frame and retired the side in order.

Rolen, in just his second game back recovering from a right hamstring injury, snapped an 0-for-16 slump as part of a two-run first inning. Phillips doubled to start the game, but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Cabrera doubled and scored on Votto's base hit to right field. After a base hit by Rolen and flyout from Jonny Gomes, Votto scored on a wild pitch when Jay Bruce swung at a pitch in the dirt.

Weeks scored on a Ryan Braun groundout in the bottom of the first, but the Reds struck for three more in the second - an RBI double from Hernandez and run-scoring hits from Phillips and Rolen.

Gallardo homered following a Jonathan Lucroy single in the bottom of the second, but the Brewers committed two errors in the third, leading to Phillips' RBI single. Bruce walked with the bases full in the fourth for a 7-3 cushion.

Weeks homered to left in the fourth, but Cincinnati tacked on three in the sixth - an RBI single from Rolen and two-run double from Hernandez off Chris Capuano.

Phillips doubled leading off the seventh against David Riske and scored on Cabrera's base hit. Rolen added a sacrifice fly to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Brewers went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position and left 11 runners on base...The Brewers have homered in 16 straight games, the longest stretch for the team since July 1-24, 2008 when they did it in a franchise-record 20 straight games.

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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.

NFL Betting Lines

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.

It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.