Wells' homer in ninth puts Jays past Red Sox

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2007 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vernon Wells belted a two-run home run in the ninth inning, helping the Toronto Blue Jays avoid a three-game sweep with a 6-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Wells finished with three hits and two runs scored, and Troy Glaus also homered for the Blue Jays, who snapped a two-game skid.

Jeremy Accardo (4-3) earned the win by recording the final five outs, while Toronto starter Shaun Marcum allowed two runs and five hits, with three walks and a pair of strikeouts in five innings of work.

Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who had a four-game win streak broken and saw their lead in the AL East shrink to six games over the New York Yankees, who crushed the Seattle Mariners, 10-2, on Wednesday.

Hideki Okajima (3-2) took the loss, while Curt Schilling allowed three runs and eight hits, with a walk and two strikeouts over six innings in the start.

With the Jays down by a run, Glaus tied the game in the eighth, working a 2-0 count against Manny Delcarmen before crushing a solo homer to left to make it a 4-4 game.

Boston wasted a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, then brought in Okajima to pitch the ninth. Okajima promptly hit Gregg Zaun with a 1-2 pitch, and John McDonald moved pinch-runner Russ Adams to second with a sacrifice bunt. Up stepped Wells, who drove Okajima's first offering over the wall in center.

Accardo preserved the win, getting Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out, David Ortiz to ground out and Mike Lowell to pop out to end the game.

The Red Sox pushed across a run in the first to grab the lead. Ellsbury ripped a one-out double to left before Ortiz walked and Lowell singled to load the bases. J.D. Drew's fielder's choice grounder plated Ellsbury to make it 1-0, but Kevin Youkilis struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Jays threatened in the second behind a pair of lead-off singles from Frank Thomas and Glaus, but were held off the board.

Toronto also had a runner cut down at home in the fourth, but used a three-run fifth to take the lead.

Zaun started the rally, drawing a one-out walk, and two batters later Wells singled to right. Matt Stairs followed with a base hit to left, plating Zaun to make it 1-1, though Red Sox manager Terry Francona briefly argued Zaun was tagged on the hand before crossing home plate.

A base hit by Alex Rios gave Toronto the lead, and Thomas' single ricocheted off third base, allowing Stairs to scamper home. Glaus also looked to continue the inning with a line drive to left, but Ellsbury made a sliding catch on the play to keep it a 3-1 game.

Boston quickly cut it to 3-2 when Ellsbury's sacrifice fly scored Varitek, who worked a walk to open the home half of the frame.

The Sox went back on top in the sixth, as Youkilis was hit by a pitch before Varitek crushed an 0-1 fastball over the right field wall to make it 4-3.

Game Notes

The Red Sox announced Wednesday that Clay Buchholz, who tossed a no-hitter in his second career start on Saturday night, will be moving to a "structured role" in the bullpen...The Sox swept the Blue Jays from May 8-10 at Rogers Centre...Schilling has struggled against the Blue Jays over the course of his career, going 3-6 in 16 games, 12 of which have been starts...Wells' homer was the 23rd of his career against the Red Sox...Thomas extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

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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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