Astros go for sweep of Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros may not have provided Roy Oswalt much run support over the course of this season, but the team has had little trouble generating offense in its battles with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Houston seeks to remain unbeaten against the road-challenged Pirates in 2010 when these two National League Central foes wrap up a three-game series this afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros have taken the first two tests of this set and moved to 5-0 versus Pittsburgh this season with last night's 6-3 victory. Houston used a rare power display to prevail on Wednesday, with the club slugging a season-high four home runs for the game.

Carlos Lee had a two-run homer and Jeff Keppinger, Lance Berkman and Hunter Pence each delivered solo blasts for Houston, which has amassed a total of 31 runs in its five victories over the Pirates this year.

"It's nice to see our 2-3-4-5 hitters hit those home runs," Astros manager Brad Mills said afterward.

Three of those long balls came off of Pirates starter Daniel McCutchen (1-4), who was reached for four runs in five innings of work.

"He battled but made mistakes that hurt," said Pirates manager John Russell of McCutchen.

Oswalt hopes his teammates can remain swinging hot bats when he takes the ball for today's finale. The Astros have averaged a modest 2.76 runs per game over the ace pitcher's 17 starts, which helps explain the unwanted 5-10 season record Oswalt carries into this matchup. In his last three mound trips, Houston has managed a paltry two runs combined.

The three-time All-Star pitched extremely well this past Friday in San Diego, holding the NL West-leading Padres to three hits and striking out seven over seven shutout innings, but left with the contest still scoreless. Oswalt took a loss in each of his two previous starts and will be searching for his first win since June 16.

The 32-year-old did defeat the Pirates in Pittsburgh back on April 23 by allowing three runs -- two earned -- over seven effective innings and sports a strong 14-7 record with a 2.62 earned run average in 27 career games (26 starts) against the Bucs. Oswalt hasn't fared well at home this season, however, having compiled a poor 1-8 mark with a 3.98 ERA in 10 assignments held at Minute Maid Park.

Houston will be counting on another extended outing from Oswalt, with Brian Moehler forced to leave Wednesday's test after only three shutout innings due to a strained right groin. Casey Daigle (1-1) was credited with the win after recording two scoreless frames in relief.

Wednesday's setback was the 20th in the past 22 road games for Pittsburgh and dropped the team to an awful 11-34 as the visitor this season, the second- worst away mark in the majors. The Pirates have also lost in 13 of their past 16 meetings with the Astros in Houston, as well as eight of the last nine overall encounters between the divisional rivals.

Pittsburgh will turn to Ross Ohlendorf today in an attempt to avoid a sweep, while the big right-hander tries to build off his best effort of the season.

Against Philadelphia this past Friday, Ohlendorf yielded five hits and struck out eight batters over seven shutout innings to notch a long-awaited first win of 2010. The 27-year-old also pitched well in a no-decision five days earlier, limiting Oakland to two unearned runs and just two hits through six frames on June 27.

Prior to those two starts, Ohlendorf had gone 0-6 with a 5.43 over his first 10 appearances of the year.

The Princeton product, an 11-game winner for the Bucs last season, has historically struggled when facing the Astros. Ohlendorf has lost all five of his career starts against Houston and pitched to a lackluster 7.57 ERA in seven lifetime appearances in this series.

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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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