Mussina, Yankees begin set with Devil Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

07/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Mussina attempts to extend an impressive streak of home supremacy over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays when the New York Yankees hurler starts tonight's opener of a four-game series between the American League East foes.

Since joining the Bronx Bombers prior to the 2001 season, Mussina has won all seven of his starts against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium and amassed an amazing 1.07 earned run average over the course of those games. For his career, the veteran right-hander owns a 16-6 record and a 3.30 ERA in 28 starts versus the Devil Rays.

Mussina wasn't as sharp when he faced Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field this past Sunday, however. He yielded a season-high 11 hits and did not record a strikeout in six innings, but was able to hold the Rays to three runs and did not factor in the decision of New York's 7-6 come-from-behind victory.

Edwin Jackson opposed Mussina in that contest and will do so again tonight for the Devil Rays. The young righty also received a no decision after allowing four runs on six hits, including a two-run homer to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, while striking out six over six innings.

It has been a trying first full season in the big leagues for Jackson, a one- time heralded prospect in the Dodgers organization who has amassed an ugly 1-9 record and 7.14 ERA in 17 starts and one relief appearance this year.

The 23-year-old made his first career start against New York on Sunday after four previous relief outings versus the club. Jackson has no record and a 5.56 ERA over 11 1/3 total innings logged versus the Yanks.

New York enters this set trailing rival Boston by seven games in the AL East standings and has the same deficit to Cleveland in the race for the league's wild card berth. The Yankees closed the gap with a five-game win streak that came to an end with Thursday's home 3-2 setback to Toronto.

Chien-Ming Wang held the Blue Jays scoreless over the first six innings, but the Taiwanese star was touched for three runs in the top of the seventh to suffer the loss.

Both Yankee runs came on a two-run double from Bobby Abreu in the first inning. New York mustered just four hits against Toronto starter Dustin McGowan and relievers Casey Janssen and Jeremy Accardo the rest of the way.

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was able to extend his hitting streak to 14 games with a sixth-inning single.

Tampa Bay comes in off its first series win in nearly a month, as the Rays took two of three games with the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Tropicana Field. The Angels averted a sweep, however, with a 3-0 victory on Thursday.

Kelvim Escobar scattered nine hits and three walks over 7 2/3 innings for Anaheim, while Francisco Rodriguez threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his 25th save of the campaign.

The Devil Rays, who stranded 10 baserunners, received three hits from Carl Crawford and a 2-for-4 performance out of Delmon Young.

Andy Sonnanstine (1-5) pitched well in a hard-luck defeat, as the Tampa rookie gave up three runs on eight hits while striking out six without a walk over seven frames.

Since taking two of three matchups with the Dodgers from June 22-24, the Devil Rays have lost 17 of 21 games.

These divisional inhabitants have split eight meetings so far in 2007, including a pair of games in a rain-shortened series at Yankee Stadium to begin the season. The Yankees won three of four encounters with Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field last weekend.

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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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