Lohse hoping to pitch Cardinals past Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though the St. Louis Cardinals appear to be loaded at the top of their pitching rotation, the back end could use some work.

Kyle Lohse gets a chance to claim his rotation spot this evening, when St. Louis tries to gain more ground in the National League Central with the second contest of a three-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

The Cardinals' top three starters of Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia have combined to notch 45 wins, but closer Ryan Franklin ranks fourth on the club with six victories. Jake Westbrook, Jeff Suppan and Lohse have just four victories between the three of them.

Lohse, a 15-game winner in 2008 with St. Louis, is just 2-6 with a 7.12 earned run average in 12 starts this year and will pitch tonight on nine days' rest after getting drilled for eight runs on 11 hits over five innings in an Aug. 28 loss in Washington.

Still, manager Tony La Russa won't hesitate in giving the start to Lohse tonight.

"Kyle gets the ball Tuesday because I think there's an anticipation he's got the best chance to get us a [win]," he told St. Louis' website. "And then that spot comes again [next] Sunday. So it's an opportunity for him to justify the confidence."

The 31-year-old righty's first start of the season came in Milwaukee on April 9, and he got a no-decision after yielding four runs over six innings. He is 3-5 with a 5.24 ERA versus the Brewers lifetime.

Lohse will try to keep the Cardinals' momentum going after they picked up their third victory in four games following a five-game slide with Monday's 8-6 triumph over Milwaukee.

The Cardinals snapped a 2-2 tie with six runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Yadier Molina's second career grand slam. Westbrook gave up two runs over a six-inning start and Mitchell Boggs got the win in relief.

The victory pulled St. Louis to within six games of first-place Cincinnati.

"It was a great win," said La Russa. "[The Brewers] are a tough club to play here because of all that power. We got touched up at the end, but everybody got the outs that they needed."

Corey Hart hit a pair of homers and Rickie Weeks added a solo shot for Milwaukee, which has lost six of its last seven.

Yovani Gallardo threw seven innings for the Brewers and was charged with two runs on four hits. Zach Braddock was tagged with the loss in relief.

"Gallardo threw the ball very well and gave us the innings that we needed," said Milwaukee manager Ken Macha. "It was a big night for Corey with the two home runs. We just didn't get the bullpen help we needed."

The Brewers send Chris Narveson to the hill tonight, and the left-hander has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last seven starts. He has also given up just three runs in his last two outings, including a no-decision in Cincinnati on Wednesday in which he allowed a run on two hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings.

Narveson is 10-7 with a 5.33 ERA in 32 games (23 starts) this year and 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA lifetime against the Cardinals. That loss came in his last matchup with them, which took place on July 2 in St. Louis, and he was charged with four runs over five innings.

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<< Week One Highlights
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Could the 2010 college football season gotten off to a better start? It began with some of the nation's top teams flexing their muscles. There were shootouts, defensive struggles and thrilling overtime affair

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta's offense has been mostly shut down during its current stretch of four losses in five games. That is exactly what starter Tim Hudson has done to Pittsburgh over the last few years, though. Hudson looks to extend a

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Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Odds

Will he or won't he?  Now that the Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach in Wade Phillips, the big question will be: Does Terrell Owens stay with the team.

Jerry Jones continues to suggest that Terrell Owens will remain with the team.

"I've said that he's back, he's here, he's under contract," Jones said. "In the interviews I've just been through (to hire a new coach), it was very clear to me how highly he's thought of and how much of an impact he had on our offensive success."

Just to be sure though, Terrell Owens cleared out his locker and removed his name plate.

Terrell Owens was among the Cowboys most productive players this past season, catching 85 passes for 1,180 yards and a league-best 13 touchdowns.

But T.O. is due a $3 million roster bonus in June, then a $5 million salary this season. Cutting him before then would save a lot of money and headaches.

Aside from the questions surrounding Terrell Owens, the oddsmakers at MySportsbook.com have concerns over starting quarterback Tony Romo's state of mind and whether he will remain a starting quarterback.  It is also not known how players will adjust to new head coach, Wade Phillips.

Here are the football odds as seen at MySportsbook.com and subject to change after February 10, 2007 if not locked in prior to that date.
Arizona Cardinals 60-1


Atlanta Falcons 50-1


Baltimore Ravens 15-1


Buffalo Bills 50-1


Carolina Panthers 18-1


Chicago Bears 10-1


Cincinnati Bengals 15-1


Cleveland Browns 100-1


Dallas Cowboys 15-1


Denver Broncos 15-1


Detroit Lions 100-1


Green Bay Packers 50-1


Houston Texans 100-1


Indianapolis Colts 6-1


Jacksonville Jaguars 30-1


Kansas City Chiefs 30-1


Miami Dolphins 40-1


Minnesota Vikings 75-1


New England Patriots 10-1


New Orleans Saints 18-1


New York Giants 20-1


New York Jets 30-1


Oakland Raiders 100-1


Philadelphia Eagles 18-1


Pittsburgh Steelers 10-1


Saint Louis Rams 60-1


San Diego Chargers 6-1


San Francisco 49ers 75-1


Seattle Seahawks 20-1


Tampa Bay Buccanneers 75-1


Tennessee Titans 40-1


Washington Redskins 50-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook credit cards needs.

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

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