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09/05/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu drove in three runs and scored three times, as the Angels took down the Athletics, 7-4, to avoid a three-game sweep at the Oakland Coliseum.
Abreu and Mike Napoli each homered for Los Angeles, which ended a six-game road trip with a 3-3 mark. Hideki Matsui and Torii Hunter had an RBI apiece.
"We played pretty great today," Hunter said. "I think we played the game the right way today."
Ervin Santana (15-9) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over six innings to improve to 5-1 over his last six starts. The right-hander also walked four batters and fanned three.
Jeff Larish hit a two-run double for the Athletics, who have dropped five of seven. Vin Mazzaro (6-8) got rocked in 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits. The right-hander lost his sixth straight decision.
"He (Mazzaro) has a little blister on his finger that he's been battling. I think he went out there today and did the best he could," A's catcher Landon Powell said.
After stranding the bases loaded in the second, the Angels scored four times in the third inning. Howie Kendrick reached base when he grounded into a fielder's choice and crossed the plate on Abreu's homer to right-center. Matsui hit a two-out single and scored on Napoli's blast to left-center.
Oakland got a run back in the home third. Rajai Davis walked, stole second, and scored on Powell's single.
The A's scored two more runs in the fourth to cut the gap to 4-3. Jack Cust singled and Mark Ellis reached first on Erick Aybar's fielding error. Larish cleared the bases with a double to left-center field. Santana retired the next three batters to keep LA in front.
Los Angeles went ahead by two runs in the top of the fifth. Abreu walked and crossed the plate on Hunter's double for a 5-3 lead.
Oakland loaded the bases with two outs in the home fifth, but Larish struck out to end the threat.
The Angels plated two runs in the seventh to extend their margin to 7-3. Kendrick led off with a double and raced home on Abreu's single. Abreu stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on Matsui's base hit.
The A's scored a run off Fernando Rodney in the ninth. Coco Crisp led off with a single and moved to second two batters later on Gabe Gross' groundout. Cust followed with a bloop RBI single to left. Ellis' base hit put men on first and second, but Larish grounded out to end the game.
Game Notes
The Athletics and Angels have split 16 games this season...Oakland's last three-game sweep of the Angels took place at the Coliseum from June 29-July 1, 2004...Santana boasts a tremendous 12-3 record over 20 career matchups (18 starts) with Oakland and has been terrific as well at the Coliseum, where he's gone 6-1 in nine starts and a pair of relief efforts...Mazzaro fell to 1-2 lifetime against the Angels.
<< UNC associate head coach Blake resigns
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina associate head football
coach John Blake has resigned, effective immediately, amid an NCAA
investigation into possible violations.
It had previously been reported by the Rale
<< Nadal advances to fourth round, Murray ousted at U.S. Open
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Rafael Nadal was an easy
third-round winner Sunday at the U.S. Open, while fourth seed Andy Murray was
given an early exit.
Nadal took the next step in his pursuit of a care
<< Padres continue freefall, lose 10th in a row
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melvin Mora hit a two-run single to snap a
seventh-inning tie, lifting the Colorado Rockies to a 4-2 win and sending
National League West-leading San Diego to a 10th straight loss.
Troy Tulowitzki cl
<< Jags make several moves
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars made several
roster moves on Sunday, including being awarded defensive tackle Landon Cohen
off waivers from Detroit.
Cohen has played 24 games over his two seasons in the N
Geovanni leads 'Quakes past Houston >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geovanni scored a goal and assisted on another
to propel the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo at
Robertson Stadium on Sunday.
The Brazilian was making his first Major League So
Giants blank Dodgers to inch closer in division >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Uribe hit a key two-run homer for the
second straight game and Jonathan Sanchez pitched seven strong innings, as the
Giants took a 3-0 win over the Dodgers in the rubber match of a three-game
series.
Stewart wins at Atlanta and clinches spot in Chase >>
Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart snapped a 31-race winless streak
in the Sprint Cup Series by taking Sunday's Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta
Motor Speedway.
Stewart put on a dominating performance by leading 176 of 325 lap
Jets, Revis agree to deal >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets and Darrelle Revis
have agreed to a deal, ending the cornerback's holdout.
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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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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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