A-Rod plunked, Clemens tossed in Yankees' victory over Blue Jays

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08/08/2007 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Clemens took a shutout into the seventh inning but was ejected and Bobby Abreu drove in four runs, as the New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-2, in a tension-filled game at Rogers Centre.

Clemens hit Toronto's Alex Rios in the seventh after both benches cleared twice in the third inning when Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. Clemens (4-5) struck out six for the Yankees, who won their fifth straight game and will attempt to complete a three-game sweep of this series on Wednesday. Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter both recorded two RBI in the victory.

Josh Towers (5-9) suffered the loss after he allowed five runs on nine hits in five-plus innings for the Blue Jays, who have dropped two straight following a three-game weekend sweep of Texas. Frank Thomas drove in both Toronto runs.

The Yankees now sit 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in the division. New York has steadily cut its deficit over the past two months after Boston jumped out to a huge lead in the always closely-watched AL East race. The Red Sox stayed hot in the early portion of the season, but New York has closed the gap significantly. Following the last meeting between Boston and New York on June 3, the Yankees trailed the Sox by 12 1/2 games.

The fireworks began when Rodriguez was hit with an inside pitch by Towers in the top of the third. Rodriguez initially moved toward the mound but was intercepted by home place umpire Angel Hernandez. This marked the second time in two days that Toronto pitchers apparently purposely threw at Rodriguez -- the first pitch that the now-member of the 500 home run club faced in Monday's game was behind his knees.

But on Tuesday, Rodriguez was in fact hit with the pitch and both benches cleared. Toronto's Matt Stairs had to be restrained in his attempt to get to Rodriguez, but tempers temporarily calmed and the players returned to the dugouts. Moments later, though, members of both teams rushed the field again after Rodriguez, from first base, exchanged words with Towers.

The tension between these AL East rivals stems from a game played here on May 30 of this season. In the ninth inning of that game, Rodriguez, while rounding the bases during an infield pop fly, yelled at a Toronto infielder and caused enough of a distraction for the ball to drop to the turf. The Blue Jays lost that game 10-5, but they didn't forget what Rodriguez did and apparently sought payback in this series.

As for the scoring in the lengthy third inning, Melky Cabrera doubled leading off and Johnny Damon walked before Jeter grounded into a 1-6-3 double play. With Damon still on second and two outs, Abreu's triple gave New York the first run of the game.

That brought Rodriguez to the plate, and after the aforementioned incident, Posada's two-run double made it 3-0.

A Damon sacrifice fly in the fourth pushed the visitors' lead to four and three more New York runs in the top of the sixth pushed the margin to 7-0. The three-run sixth featured a two-run single by Jeter and a fielder's choice RBI grounder by Abreu.

Clemens worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth and shortly after took the mound for the seventh. The first batter he faced was Rios, who was plunked in the back by Clemens' first pitch. Due to the earlier incidents, during which both benches were warned, Clemens was tossed along with manager Joe Torre.

Jim Brower came in from the New York bullpen and walked Vernon Wells before a two-run double by Thomas.

The scoring was capped by Abreu's two-run single in the eighth and Joba Chamberlain, who was recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, tossed two scoreless relief innings in his first career appearance.

Chamberlain's recall was one of four roster moves made in the day, the most noteworthy of which was the activation of first baseman Jason Giambi from the disabled list. Giambi, who had been on the DL since May 31 with a foot injury, did not play.

Game Notes

Other moves by New York included: Miguel Cairo was designated for assignment and pitcher Brian Bruney was optioned to Scranton...Clemens is now 21-11 in 42 career starts against Toronto, a team he pitched for in the 1990s...Towers fell to 1-4 over his last five starts...The Yankees lead the 2007 season series with Toronto, 6-4...The scheduled pitchers for Wednesday's finale are Toronto's Roy Halladay versus Chien-Ming Wang...Attendance was 38,078.

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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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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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