Detroit's Galarraga baffles Indians again

Baseball Betting Lines

08/20/2010 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Armando Galarraga continued his mastery of the Indians with seven shutout innings, and the Detroit Tigers shut out Cleveland, 6-0, in the opener of a three-game set at Comerica Park.

Galarraga (4-5), whose last appearance against Cleveland resulted in what should have been a perfect game, allowed just three hits and struck out eight without walking a batter. Back on June 2, Galarraga tossed his first career shutout, retiring the first 26 batters of the game before umpire Jim Joyce botched a call at first base that would have resulted in the third perfect game of the season.

Instead, he settled for a one-hitter, and Galarraga stretched his scoreless innings streak against the Indians this season to 16. He has given up at least one run in every start this season except both games against Cleveland.

Don Kelly recorded a career-high four hits to go with two runs scored and an RBI for Detroit, which snapped a three-game losing streak and a four-game skid to the Indians. Brandon Inge fell a homer shy of the cycle, while Will Rhymes, Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera each recorded a multi-hit game.

Jayson Nix doubled for the Indians to break up a no-hitter in the fifth, as the Indians fell for the ninth time in 12 games. Justin Masterson (4-12) continued to struggle, giving up five runs on 11 hits and a walk in six frames.

The Tigers wasted no time building a lead, scoring twice in the first.

Jackson led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a Rhymes bunt single. Jackson was able to score on the play when catcher Lou Marson threw the ball away, which also let Rhymes reach second.

Rhymes went to third on a groundout and scored on Cabrera's base hit for a 2-0 lead.

Gerald Laird and Jackson each hit an RBI single in the second to double the lead to four. Rhymes' run-scoring single in the fourth made it a 5-0 contest.

Meanwhile, Galarraga dominated. He retired the first 14 Indians batters of the game before Nix hit a double to left just past the outstretched glove of Kelly.

Galarraga allowed just two more hits in his seven innings of work, and Ryan Perry followed with a perfect eighth. Kelly's RBI double in the eighth accounted for the final margin, and Phil Coke polished off the win with a scoreless ninth.

Game Notes

The Tigers had an eight-game homer streak snapped. They also had a streak of seven games with multiple home runs stopped...Detroit is 13-2 in its last 15 home games against the Indians...The Tigers lead the season series, 7-6...Former Indians infielder Jhonny Peralta faced his old team for the first time and went 0-for-4...The Tigers went 8-for-20 with runners in scoring position, while the Indians went 0-for-1.

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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.

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