Gross' HR in 10th boosts Rays to another home win

Baseball Betting Lines

06/01/2008 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gabe Gross led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a homer, as the Tampa Bay Rays downed the Chicago White Sox, 4-3, in the finale of a four-game set at Tropicana Field.

Gross added a two-run triple for Tampa Bay, which has won three straight and owns the best record in the American League at 35-22. Carlos Pena knocked in the other run, while Shawn Riggans went 2-for-4 and scored a run. B.J. Upton tripled and scored a run, as the Rays won for the 20th time in their last 23 home games.

Andy Sonnanstine, who tossed a three-hit shutout against the White Sox on April 19, gave up three runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. J.P. Howell (4-0) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Alexei Ramirez finished 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for Chicago, which concluded its seven-game road trip with a mark of 3-4. Orlando Cabrera had an RBI and A.J. Pierzynski notched three hits.

Mark Buehrle allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings. Matt Thornton (1-1) surrendered the walk-off homer to absorb the loss.

Jim Thome doubled to lead off the top of the 10th, but was left stranded a third. Paul Konerko and Joe Crede grounded out, and Nick Swisher fanned.

Gross then crushed an 0-2 breaking ball into the seats in right field to win the game.

The White Sox plated two in the top of the second. Konerko lined a single to right to lead off the frame and, after Crede was called out on strikes, Swisher smashed a bullet off the base at first for a hit. Sonnanstine then hung an 0-1 slider that Ramirez hooked into the left field corner for a two- run double.

Pena's RBI single put the Rays on the board in the fourth, but Chicago countered in the next frame. Brian Anderson led off with a double and Cabrera followed with a single to right to put the visitors up, 3-1. Pierzynski then stroked a soft liner to right that fell in for a hit, but Sonnanstine recorded three pop ups to thwart further damage.

The Rays drew even in the bottom of the fifth. A single by Jonny Gomes and a double by Riggans put runners on second and third with no outs for Gross, whose triple to right-center tied the game.

Game Notes

Tampa Bay improved to 24-10 at home...Thome doubled twice...The White Sox left 10 men on base, while Tampa Bay stranded five.

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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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