Braun's slam helps Brewers blast Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun belted a grand slam and drove in five runs, as Milwaukee blasted the Angels, 12-2, to start a three-game interleague series.

Randy Wolf (5-6) gave up three hits and two runs over seven innings and snapped a two-start losing streak, putting an end to the Brewers' two-game skid. He retired the final 13 batters he faced.

"I attacked the glove tonight," Wolf said. "No matter what the score is, you don't want to change anything. I had good command and my curveball was good tonight. When you get a big lead it allows me to be more aggressive."

Corey Hart went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and scored twice for the Brewers, while Casey McGehee homered.

While the Milwaukee bats were blistering, the fans at Angel Stadium were rattled a bit due to an earthquake in the seventh inning that registered at 5.7 and was centered near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Joe Saunders (5-7) allowed six hits and six runs over 5 2/3 innings and had a two-start winning streak broken. He gave up a total of two runs over his previous two outings, a span of 15 innings, but both of those starts were on the road. Saunders is now 1-6 at home this season.

"He got through the first couple of innings okay, then his command caught up with him and he had trouble putting hitters away," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We just played a poor ball game. They blew it open and we couldn't get our bats going."

Kevin Frandsen had a two-run double in the second inning for Los Angeles, which had won its last three. The Angels, who were coming off an 11-3 road trip, lost for just the third time in their last 13 games.

It was a rough night for the Angels. Center fielder Torii Hunter had a ball glance off his glove and over the fence, accounting for McGehee's homer in the sixth inning. McGehee also slid hard into second base in the seventh inning, causing shortstop Erick Aybar to leave the game with a hyperextended left knee.

With one out in the sixth, Hunter ranged back to the wall in center field and nearly made the grab. A Gold Glove winner the last nine years, Hunter then had the ball pop out and over the fence, giving the Brewers a 6-2 lead.

It only got worse in the seventh inning for the Angels. Hart doubled in two runs and Braun had an RBI single. Trevor Bell hit McGehee with a pitch in the stomach area. Carlos Gomez then hit a ground ball to first baseman Frandsen, who threw to second base. The throw was in time to get McGehee, but while sliding into second he connected with Aybar's leg, bending it backward.

Aybar was then helped off the field and was replaced at shortstop by Maicer Izturis, who came over from third. Aybar was diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee and is day-to-day.

Braun scored on a wild pitch from Bell and a Robb Quinlan fielding error at first made it an 11-2 contest.

A groundout from Alcides Escobar scored Joe Inglett in the ninth inning.

Frandsen doubled with the bases full in the second inning, but the Brewers quickly erased the deficit in the third. George Kottaras doubled off the wall in the right field corner to drive in Escobar. After Milwaukee loaded the bases later in the frame, Braun connected to center field for his 10th homer of the season.

Game Notes

It was the first-ever grand slam allowed by Saunders and the third of Braun's career...Bobby Abreu threw out Craig Counsell at the plate in the sixth inning when Counsell tried to score on a base hit from Escobar...Milwaukee took two of three games from the Angels during its last visit to Anaheim, which took place during the 2004 season.

Socceronlinegamble Baseball Betting News

<< Giants stay hot at home with rout of Orioles
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonathan Sanchez pitched into the eighth inning and Freddy Sanchez drove in four runs, helping the Giants to a 10-2 rout of Baltimore in the opener of a three-game interleague series. Pat Burrell h

<< Buck, Hill push Blue Jays over Padres
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Buck belted two home runs while Aaron Hill hit three doubles and drove in three, as the Toronto Blue Jays opened a three-game interleague series against the San Diego Padres with a 6-3 victory. Buck

<< Oklahoma, Clemson complete College World Series field
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clemson and Oklahoma won their Super Regional elimination games Monday to become the final two teams to advance to the College World Series. They join Florida, South Carolina, Florida S

<< Vancouver LW Burrows undergoes shoulder procedure
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vancouver Canucks left wing Alex Burrows underwent surgery to repair an ailing shoulder, the club announced on Monday. The 29-year-old tallied a team-high 35 goals to go along with 32 assists in 82 regul

<< Cardinals power past Mariners
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Ludwick hit a three-run homer and knocked in four, and Colby Rasmus added a two-run shot, as the St. Louis Cardinals earned a 9-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three- game in

Celtics know perils of road closeout games >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -When the Celtics wrapped up Game 5 and moved one win away from an unprecedented 18th championship, the jubilant Boston crowd sent them off to the West Coast for the final time this season with one last chorus of that age-old ``Beat

Dementieva to skip Wimbledon >>
Monte Carlo, Monaco (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elena Dementieva has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of a calf injury that forced her to retire during the French Open. Dementieva said on her personal website that she has not fully recovered fro

United signs Montenegrin midfielder Boskovic as a DP >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United signed Montenegrin midfielder Branko Boskovic as a Designated Player, the Major League Soccer club announced late Monday. "We are excited to have concluded a deal to bring Branko to D.C.

New Zealand earns dramatic draw vs. Slovakia >>
Rustenburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winston Reid scored three minutes into stoppage time and New Zealand earned a dramatic 1-1 draw against Slovakia on Tuesday in the FIFA World Cup Group F action at Royal Bafokeng Stadium. Robert V

Caution: Is NASCAR now in show business? >>
Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Debris, or not debris? That is the question NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin has been asking after a late-race caution for debris possibly cost him a victory in Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway. Ham

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

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.