Rays hope to end epic winless drought in Cleveland

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trying to remain in the hunt for first place in the American League East, one would think the Tampa Bay Rays would welcome a trip to Cleveland to face the last-place Indians.

Problem is, Tampa Bay hasn't won in 17 straight games at Cleveland's Progressive Field, and the Indians are also expected to get another starter back from the disabled list in time for tonight's opener of a three-game series.

The Rays currently lead the AL Wild Card race and are just three games back of the first-place Yankees in the division. They have also won five of six versus the Indians this year, but all six of those meetings took place at home.

Tonight Tampa will try to record its first victory in Cleveland since Sept. 28, 2005. The 17-game slide there is the longest in one ballpark in club history, and the Rays have been outscored 107-47 over the losing streak.

Also not helping the Rays' cause is the expected return tonight of Shin-Soo Choo to the Indians' lineup from a sprained right thumb that has sidelined him since July 2. Choo leads Cleveland with a .286 average and 13 homers and is also tied for the club lead with 43 RBI.

He is the second starter to come back from injury this week for Cleveland, which saw the return of Asdrubal Cabrera from a right forearm fracture on Tuesday.

The Indians aren't likely to be intimidated by the Rays' MLB-leading 31-17 road record, as Cleveland has lost just once since the All-Star break. The club won its first six games after the hiatus, sweeping the Tigers in four games and winning the first two contests against the Twins before Wednesday's 6-0 setback.

Jake Westbrook took the loss after allowing four runs, six hits and five walks over six innings, while Indians rookie catcher Carlos Santana went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts to halt his string of reaching base safely at 15 games.

"We won the series on the road, which is always a good accomplishment," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "The way we have played the last week or so -- we have to be encouraged by how things are going."

The Indians will try to stay hot behind Fausto Carmona, who has won two straight and five of his last seven starts. The right-hander has yielded more than three earned runs just once in his previous nine outings and is coming off Saturday's win over the Tigers. Carmona held Detroit to three runs while working around six hits and six walks over seven-plus innings of work.

The 26-year-old is 9-7 with a 3.65 earned run average this year and bested the Rays on July 9 after giving up two runs on five hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings. Carmona improved to 3-1 with a 5.52 ERA lifetime versus Tampa Bay with that outing.

The Rays counter with right-hander Jeff Niemann, who is 8-2 with a 2.92 ERA and puts a perfect 5-0 mark in nine road starts this year on the line.

Niemann, though, has never beaten the Indians, having gone 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three career starts against them. He lasted just five innings versus them on July 11, allowing three runs in a no-decision.

The 27-year-old fourth overall pick of the 2004 draft also struggled in his first start after the All-Star break, yielding four runs on six hits and four walks over 6 1/3 innings on Saturday versus the Yankees. He still took a 10-5 victory and is 2-0 with a 3.75 ERA over four starts since a loss on June 25.

The Rays visit the third and final city on their current nine-game road trip after splitting the first six games in New York and Baltimore. They took two of three over the Orioles after winning Wednesday's rubber match, 5-4.

Evan Longoria homered in the victory and also forced home the go-ahead run when he drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning. That got James Shields the win even though he gave up four runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings.

"[Wednesday] was a tough day to pitch. It seemed like it was 120 degrees out there," Shields said. "We played really good defense."

Tampa Bay was without Carl Crawford on Wednesday due to a testicular contusion suffered the previous day, when he was struck in the groin by the ball during a pickoff attempt. He could return to action tonight, however.

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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.

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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.

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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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