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08/03/2010 -
NEW YORK (AP) -The numbers on the specially marked balls for Alex Rodriguez's at-bats must be getting up there - perhaps, uhm, close to say 600.
The Yankees slugger's quest - and by now it is one - for membership in the exclusive 600-homer club extended into its 11th game Monday with an 0-for-5 night against the Toronto Blue Jays.
``I thought I swung the bat better today. I had some pretty good pitches to hit,'' Rodriguez said after the Yankees' 8-6 loss. ``The difference between 0 for 5 and 2 for 5 is small.''
A-Rod's drive to become the youngest player and seventh overall to reach the milestone began after he homered off Kansas City reliever Robinson Tejeda on July 22 and has gone on for 48 plate appearances against four teams in three cities.
He's hitless in his last 14 at-bats and is 9 for 43 overall with eight RBIs during the drought. The closest he has come to the homer is a couple of long fly balls that were caught in front of the warning track.
Most of the 47,034 fans remained in their seats Monday for one more chance to see him bat in the ninth, and they got it. But Rodriguez grounded to shortstop against Kevin Gregg to end the game.
``The way I'm swinging, it's probably going to take a while. Everybody get comfortable,'' Rodriguez said, smiling on Sunday.
Rodriguez began the search for 600 by saying that he isn't going to feel the pressure the same way he did when he was going for No. 500 in 2007, a wait of 10 days and 28 at-bats. He even playfully checked out the marked balls that are switched in before he steps to the plate in one of his first at-bats, way back on July 23.
His manager says Rodriguez can't possibly ignore the significance of the pending homer.
``With the flashbulbs going off all the time and changing the ball, I don't know how you don't think about it,'' Joe Girardi said.
Nearly a week past his 35th birthday, the three-time MVP appeared loose before Monday's game, hitting many balls over the wall in batting practice, including a rare shot that banged off the black glass of a sports bar in center field - way beyond the 408-foot sign and above monument park.
While Rodriguez needed 41 at-bats to hit his first homer this season and has just 16 home runs this year, a stretch like this while approaching 600 is unusual. Babe Ruth separated 599 and 600 with one at-bat, Hank Aaron two. Barry Bonds' spell was eight, Sammy Sosa's was 13 and Ken Griffey Jr.'s 17, according to STATS LLC. Willie Mays went 21 homerless at-bats before his milestone shot.
Girardi said he hasn't seen the frustration growing, but he did keep his clean-up hitter out of the starting lineup against Tampa Bay on Sunday. Rodriguez struck out looking as a pinch-hitter in his lone at-bat.
``Nothing told me that he didn't have good at-bats or wasn't being patient,'' Girardi said Monday. ``He just didn't get any hits.''
In his first game back at Yankee Stadium after a fruitless seven-game road trip to Tampa Bay and Cleveland, Rodriguez was greeted with loud cheers. But fans only in seats beyond the walls in right and left field are standing now with every pitch.
Thousands of camera flashes still burst in a brilliant sparkle with each pitch - think of all the wasted photos - and fans roared when the count turned to Rodriguez's favor in the third. The groans were just as loud when he struck out on a 96 mph pitch from Brandon Morrow.
Rodriguez joked that he doesn't notice the flashes, saying, ``I'm used to it; it's been about a month.''
Morrow said he noticed the flashes once, but it would be a lot easier to forget that being part of history was one pitch away if it wasn't stamped on the baseballs.
``It's a lot easier to put it out of your mind if they didn't give you a new ball everytime he was up,'' he said.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Report: Modano to join Red Wings
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Modano is reportedly set to sign with the
Detroit Red Wings later this week.
The Livonia, Michigan native said in a text message to the Detroit Free Press
that he will make a "Big announcement" on Thu
<< Padres dig reeling Dodgers deeper hole in NL West
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Headley and Will Venable each hit a
three-run homer, as the San Diego Padres took a 10-5 win over the Los Angeles
Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series.
Headley finished 4-for-5 for the NL We
<< Indycar
Fined Helio Castroneves $60,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the year for his actions during the July 25 race at Edmonton.
<< Safina moves on in California
Carlsbad, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russian Dinara Safina was a straight-set
winner in first-round play Monday at the $700,000 Mercury Insurance Open.
Safina cruised in the first set before prevailing in a tough second set,
beating
James thanks hometown fans in Ohio in newspaper ad >>
AKRON, Ohio (AP) -LeBron James is showing appreciation to his Ohio hometown fans with a full-page newspaper ad as he leaves to play basketball in Miami.James thanks Akron residents for their love and support in the ad in Tuesday's Akron Beacon Journ
Charlotte gets final OK to start football program >>
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Charlotte has cleared its final hurdle to start a football program in 2013.North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed a capital projects bill this week that includes funding for the 49ers' stadium construction. It was the la
Haynesworth skips conditioning test again >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert
Haynesworth did not take the team's conditioning test on Tuesday.
Haynesworth has yet to practice since training camp began last week because he
has been unable
Former Miss. player pleads guilty in assault case >>
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -Former Mississippi football signee Jamar Hornsby and two others have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in a 2009 attack on a man at a McDonald's restaurant in Starkville.The three - Hornsby, Darrell Cartez Simmons
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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Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.
Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.
"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."
Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.
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