Kendrick guides Phils into wild card tie with win over Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

08/15/2010 - Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Kendrick pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, allowing just one run, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets, 3-1, in a rain-soaked rubber match of a three-game set at Citi Field.

Kendrick (8-5) gave up six hits and walked just one batter while fanning four for the Phillies, who have won 18 of their last 23 games to climb into a tie atop the wild card standings with the San Francisco Giants, who lost earlier Sunday. Philadelphia will start a three-game set with San Francisco on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park.

Shane Victorino went 3-for-5 with a stolen base, an RBI and a run scored for the Phillies, while Jayson Werth ended with two hits and scored once. Brad Lidge earned his 16th save.

Jose Reyes homered for the Mets' only run, and New York has now dropped 10 of its last 13 series (2-10-1). The Mets fell to 10-19 since the All-Star break.

Mike Pelfrey (11-7), coming off an outing in which he shut out the Rockies for seven innings, gave up three runs on seven hits in seven frames to take the loss.

Jimmy Rollins used his legs to help the Phillies produce the game's first run in the third.

Rollins, who came into the game with 25 consecutive successful stolen base attempts -- the longest active streak in the majors, got on base with a two- out bloop single to left. With Victorino at the plate, Rollins swiped both second and third, and Victorino grounded an RBI double just inside the right field line for a 1-0 lead.

The Mets answered quickly on Reyes' blast that hit the right field foul pole leading off the home third, tying the score.

Philadelphia placed a runner at third with two outs in the fourth, but Luis Castillo made a diving grab on Wilson Valdez's ground ball, preventing the go- ahead run.

The Mets couldn't prevent the go-ahead run in the fifth, however, as the Phillies used some more two-out hitting.

With two outs and nobody on, Victorino singled softly to center. He stole his 22nd base of the season with Placido Polanco at the plate, and Polanco promptly sent a grounder up the middle to plate Victorino without a throw for a 2-1 advantage.

The visitors struck for another run in the sixth. Werth led off with a triple, he grounded a ball down the right field line that right fielder Angel Pagan had a difficult time handling. Two batters later, Carlos Ruiz singled past the drawn-in third baseman David Wright to easily plate Werth for a two-run edge.

Meanwhile, Kendrick settled down to dominate. Following Reyes' home run, he allowed just two baserunners -- a fifth-inning bunt single by Castillo. He exited after walking Castillo with two outs in the seventh with pinch-hitter Jeff Francoeur coming up.

With Francoeur's career 9-for-22 mark against Kendrick, the Phillies opted for Chad Durbin, who induced a deep fly out from Francoeur to preserve the 3-1 lead. Francoeur is now 0-for-15 against Durbin in his career.

Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth, working around a two-out walk to David Wright. He struck out Carlos Beltran to end the frame and bridge the gap to Lidge, who set down the Mets in order in the ninth to lock up the win.

Game Notes

During the Phillies' strong 23-game run, their starting pitchers have an ERA of 2.78...Philadelphia moved to 10-3 in August...The season series is tied, 6-6...Mets starters have a 1.44 ERA in their last eight games, but have gone just 4-4 in that stretch...The Phillies have won six of their last seven road games...Philadelphia is 44-11 when scoring first...Lidge is 16-for-16 in career save opportunities against the Mets...New York is 0-46 when trailing after eight innings, one of two major league teams without a win in that category. The Cubs are the other.

Mysportbet Baseball Betting News

<< Bengals beat Broncos; Tebow scores on last play
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cedric Benson and James Johnson each scored on the ground as the Cincinnati Bengals downed the Denver Broncos, 33-24, in preseason action. Carson Palmer went 12-for-15 for 105 yards while Dave Rayner co

<< Report: Pacers rookie Stephenson arrested
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana Pacers rookie guard Lance Stephenson has reportedly been arrested for pushing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs. According to the New York Daily News, Stephenson, 19, pushed Jasmine Willi

<< Jennifer Song wins playoff in Richmond
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jennifer Song beat Jenny Shin on the second hole of a playoff Sunday to win the Greater Richmond Golf Classic. Song ran home a 20-footer for birdie on No. 18, which was used for both playoff holes,

<< Every reportedly suspended from PGA Tour
Kohler, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matthew Every, a rookie on the PGA Tour, has been suspended for three months according to Golf Week magazine. Every was one of three people arrested in July the week of the John Deere Classic. The 26

<< Cowboys RT Colombo leaves practice with knee injury
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys starting right tackle Marc Colombo left Sunday's afternoon practice with a right knee injury and is scheduled to undergo an MRI. He was carted off the field, and the severity of the i

Stampeders roll over Eskimos >>
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, as the Calgary Stampeders trounced the Edmonton Eskimos, 56-15, at McMahon Stadium in Alberta. Burris connected on 21-of-29 pass attempts for the Stam

Heat F Haslem charged with drug possession >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem was charged with drug possession and unlawful speeding after an initial traffic stop on Sunday. Miami-Dade County court records show Haslem was charged with possessing o

Baghdatis tops Cilic in Cincinnati opener >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcos Baghdatis defeated 11th-seeded Marin Cilic in straight sets in Sunday's lone first-round match at the $2,430,000 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. Baghdatis posted a 6-4, 7-5 win t

Sharapova pulls out of Montreal event >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup because of a foot injury. Sharapova lost in the final of the U.S. Open tuneup in Cincinnati on Sunday and said she felt pain in the foot during the setback

Haslem's attorney: NBA player will be vindicated >>
MIAMI (AP) -A passenger in Udonis Haslem's vehicle told the Florida Highway Patrol that marijuana found after a weekend traffic stop on a South Florida highway was his. The Miami Heat forward's lawyer believes that should vindicate the NBA veteran.E

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.