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06/12/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Reynolds finished a triple shy of the cycle and Dan Haren tossed eight solid innings, as the Arizona Diamondbacks handled the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2, in the second test of a three-game series at Chase Field.
Reynolds went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and two RBI for the Diamondbacks, who bounced back from a 5-2 defeat in the series opener on Friday. Adam LaRoche hit a pair of solo homers for Arizona, which also got a solo shot from Chris Snyder.
Haren (7-4), who played for St. Louis from 2003-04, gave up two runs on six hits to win his second consecutive start. He also fanned nine batters and walked zero.
Colby Rasmus hit a solo homer for the Cardinals, who have dropped five of six. Ryan Ludwick drove in the other run in defeat.
Adam Ottavino (0-2), making his third major league start, allowed six runs on nine hits over just 3 2/3 innings to take the loss.
The D'Backs got on the board in the first. Stephen Drew worked a two-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, and crossed the plate on Reynolds' double.
Back-to-back solo homers by Reynolds and LaRoche made it a 3-0 game in the third.
Arizona put a three-spot on the board in the fourth to make it a six-run contest. Snyder hit a one-out, solo homer to left. Haren followed with a double and scored on Kelly Johnson's two-bagger. Two batters later, Drew hit a double of his own to plate Johnson.
Haren, who was perfect through four frames, gave up a run in the top of the fifth. Matt Holliday led off with a double down the left-field line and came around to score on Ludwick's base hit. The Cardinals stranded the bases loaded later in the inning.
The Diamondbacks got the run back in the home half on LaRoche's second solo blast of the game.
Rasmus' homer in the sixth proved to be the final run of the tilt.
Game Notes
St. Louis took two of three from the D'Backs earlier in the year after winning the series 4-2 a year ago...The Diamondbacks reinstated catcher Miguel Montero from the 15-day disabled list. To make room for Montero's return, the team optioned catcher John Hester to Triple-A Reno...Johnson extended his hitting streak to nine games...The D'Backs have allowed 33 homers since May 20.
<< Guillen's 10th-inning homer lifts Tigers over Pirates
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Guillen's homer to start the bottom of
the 10th inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates
in the second of a three-game interleague set.
With Brendan Donnelly (2-1) on the
<< Hamilton homers, Rangers hang on to beat Brewers
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Smoak hit a two-run double and Josh
Hamilton blasted a solo home run, as the Texas Rangers held on to beat the
Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, in the middle portion of a three-game interleague
series
<< Hammel impressive on the mound as Rockies shut out Jays
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Hammel and Manuel Corpas combined on a
four-hitter in Colorado's 1-0 victory over Toronto in the middle meeting of a
three-game interleague set at Coors Field.
Hammel (4-3) yielded only three hits,
<< Gomes' two HR, six RBI game sends Reds over Royals
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonny Gomes hit a pair of three-run homers
en route to driving in a career-high six runs, as the Cincinnati Reds
dominated the Kansas City Royals, 11-5, in the second test of a three-game
interle
Giants' Zito records first win against former team >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Uribe drove in a pair of runs to
help the San Francisco Giants take a 5-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics in
the middle installment of a three-game interleague set at AT&T Park.
Pablo San
Florida downs Miami, advances to CWS >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austin Maddox's RBI double in the top of
the 10th inning lifted Florida over Miami-Florida, 4-3, sending the Gators to
the College World Series.
Florida, which won 7-2 in the opener of this best-of-t
UCLA coach Howland has surgery >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UCLA head men's basketball coach Ben
Howland underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles
tendon.
The procedure was performed on Friday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medi
Rivera homers as Angels edge Dodgers >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Rivera clubbed a two-run homer to help
the Angels defeat the Dodgers, 4-2, in the middle contest of a three-game
interleague series at Chavez Ravine.
Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter each had an
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.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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