Halladay aims to pitch surging Phils past Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roy Halladay goes after win No. 17 this evening, when the playoff-hopeful Philadelphia Phillies continue their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.

Halladay has lost his last two starts, though, despite quality outings that have seen him surrender six runs in 14 innings. The Phillies, however, have provided him with just two runs in those outings.

On Monday in Los Angeles, Halladay allowed three runs and 10 hits in seven innings, but the Phillies were one-hit in the 3-0 setback to the Dodgers. The loss dropped Halladay to 16-10 on the year to go along with the second-best earned run average in the National League at 2.27. His 190 strikeouts are also one shy of Los Angeles left-hander Clayton Kershaw's NL lead.

Halladay, who is 10-5 with a 1.95 ERA at Citizens Bank Park this year, lost to the Brewers the only other time he faced them, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings back in 2005.

Cole Hamels pulled the Phillies within a game of first place in the National League East on Friday, as the left-hander twirled seven strong innings and Carlos Ruiz drove in the game's lone run in Philadelphia's 1-0 win.

Philadelphia has now held the opposition to one run or less in five of its past seven games.

Hamels (9-10) gave up just three hits to go with seven strikeouts and three walks to pick up his second straight win. Ryan Madson recorded his fifth save of the year by throwing a scoreless ninth.

The Phillies, who have now won four in a row and seven of eight, improved to a major league best 29-12 since July 21 and closed the gap even further on the division-leading Atlanta Braves, who lost to Florida on Friday.

"When you're in first place and people are chasing you and you lose and it's close, you know exactly what's going on and where you're at," said Phils manager Charlie Manuel when asked about the Braves. "We've just got to keep on playing. But they feel us. I think they know where we're at."

Brewers starter Chris Capuano (2-3) was solid in five frames, allowing one run on four hits to suffer the hard-luck loss. He fanned four batters and walked two for Milwaukee, which has lost four straight.

Getting the call for Milwaukee this evening will be righty Dave Bush, who is 7-11 with a 4.71 ERA. Bush picked up a win against Pittsburgh on Sunday, as he allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits in seven innings.

Bush carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his last trip to Philadelphia, but lost to the Phillies earlier in the season. He is 1-2 lifetime against them with a 5.40 ERA in nine starts.

Philadelphia swept a three-game set in Milwaukee back in May and has won six of the past eight meetings between the two clubs.

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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

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