A-Rod goes deep twice as Yanks come back to rout Bucs

Baseball Betting Lines

06/10/2007 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez homered twice and Bobby Abreu finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three runs batted in, leading the New York Yankees to a 13-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a sweep of the three-game interleague series at Yankee Stadium.

Rodriguez, who finished with four runs scored, clubbed a three-run homer in the fourth to erase a one-run deficit and added a two-run shot in the sixth. He has four multi-homer games this season and 48 in his career.

Abreu stroked a double, a triple and two singles to go along with a walk. Hideki Matsui added two runs batted in and Derek Jeter scored twice for New York, which has won a season-high six in a row and nine of its last 11 to claw within one game of the .500 mark (30-31).

Sean Henn (2-0) was credited with the win in two scoreless innings of relief. Yankee starter Tyler Clippard was roughed up for six runs on six hits and three walks in just 3 2/3 innings.

Former Yankee Shawn Chacon (2-1) took the loss in his return to the Bronx. The right-hander, who was an important acquisition for New York during the 2005 season, was shelled for seven runs on eight hits in just 3 1/3 innings.

Jose Bautista, Jose Castillo and Chris Duffy each drove in two runs for the Pirates, who have lost three straight and nine of their last 12.

The Yankees trailed 6-5 after Pittsburgh scored four in the top of the fourth, but New York regained the lead with one swing of the bat. After Jeter and Abreu each singled with one out to chase Chacon, Rodriguez greeted Josh Sharpless with a blast over the wall in left field for his 23rd home run of the season and an 8-6 advantage.

Henn worked in and out of trouble in the fifth, loading the bases with one out before fanning Ryan Doumit and getting Castillo on a grounder.

Rodriguez was at it again in the sixth, extending the Yankee lead to 10-6 with a two-run homer over the wall in right field, and New York tacked on three more in the seventh on an RBI single by Wil Nieves and a two-run double by Abreu.

Luis Vizcaino and Scott Proctor combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings before Mike Myers got the last three outs. New York's bullpen combined for 5 1/3 innings of three-hit relief.

The Yankees scored three times in the first. Johnny Damon led off with a base hit and took second as Jeter bounced back to the mound. Abreu then laced a run-scoring triple to the gap in left-center field and Rodriguez drew a walk before Matsui doubled to left-center. Abreu scored easily and Rodriguez was safe on a close play at the plate.

Pittsburgh answered with two in the second. Adam LaRoche drew a walk to start the inning and raced to third on a double by Doumit before Castillo singled up the middle to chase home both runners.

New York added two in the third. Abreu led off with a single and stole second before Rodriguez walked and Matsui dropped in a base hit to load the bases. After Robinson Cano lined out, Melky Cabrera bounced an infield single over the pitcher's mound to score one run and Miguel Cairo followed with a fly ball to deep center field to knock in another for a 5-2 edge.

The Pirates responded with four in the fourth. Xavier Nady drew a one-out walk, Doumit singled and Castillo walked to load the bases for Duffy, who drilled a double just inside the bag at first to score two runs. Bautista followed with a base hit to score two more, giving Pittsburgh a 6-5 lead and chasing Clippard from the game.

Game Notes

The Yankees swept a series for just the third time this season, having taken three from Cleveland in April and three at Texas in May...New York continues interleague play Tuesday when the Arizona Diamondbacks visit for the start of a three-game series...Pittsburgh returns home on Tuesday to open a three-game interleague set with Texas.

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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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