Zimmerman's homer lifts Nationals over Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth led the Washington Nationals to a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second of a three-game set.

After the Phillies took a one-run lead on Carlos Ruiz's RBI single in the ninth, the Phils turned to Brad Lidge (1-1) to close the game, but it was not to be.

Mike Morse led off with a single and moved to second on Nyjer Morgan's sac bunt. Adam Kennedy followed with a walk and Zimmerman then crushed a fastball over the middle of the plate over the center-field wall for the win.

Roger Bernadina and Josh Willingham each had an RBI and scored a run for the Nationals, who have won four of their last five. Zimmerman finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Ross Detwiler gave up just one run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Drew Storen (3-2) got the win in relief.

Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run while Ruiz finished the game 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBI for the Phillies, who have lost two in a row since an eight-game winning streak.

Joe Blanton had a shaky start, but settled down and over six innings he gave up four runs on nine hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

The Nationals jumped on Blanton in the first inning. With two outs and two on, Willingham flied a ball to left that Ibanez made a diving play on and got leather on the ball, but it fell out when he hit the ground and one run scored. Bernadina and Ivan Rodriguez followed with consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.

The Phils had men on base in each of the first three innings, but didn't put one across till the fourth. With a man on and one out, Domonic Brown reached base when he hit into a fielder's choice. Ruiz then belted a single to center and Wilson Valdez followed with a single to left to plate Brown and make it a 3-1 game.

With one out in the sixth, Joel Peralta took over for Detwiler and Ruiz greeted him with a shot over the wall in left to make it a one-run game.

Blanton settled down after the shaky start and didn't allow a run over the next four innings, but the Nationals did get one back in the bottom of the sixth.

Bernadina led off with a double and Rodriguez followed with a single. Ian Desmond then hit a sinking liner to right that saw Brown make a beautiful diving stop on, but Bernadina tagged up for a 4-2 lead. Willie Harris then hit a single, but Morgan grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Philly, though, tied the game in the seventh off of Tyler Clippard as Placido Polanco worked a one-out walk and Ibanez followed by drilling an 0-1 pitch into the bullpen in right for his 10th home run of the season.

Game Notes

The Phillies finished July with a mark of 15-13 while the Nationals went 12-13...Each team has won four times in the season series...Philadelphia left 12 men on base...Cole Hamels takes the mound for Philly on Sunday in the series finale and will be opposed by John Lannan.

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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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