Sunday Trends and Indexes 09/02

[Udog]

MLB
Short Sheet


Sunday, September 2nd


National League

NY Mets at Atlanta, 1:05 EST TBS
Tom Glavine (L) vs. John Smoltz (R)
Glavine: 42-21 TSR last 63 starts
Smoltz: 9-1 Under as a favorite of -150 or less

Philadelphia at Florida, 1:05 EST
Adam Eaton (R) vs. Scott Olsen (L)
Eaton: 19-9 SU after allowing 8+ runs
Olsen: Florida 13-26 SU at home with a line of +125 to -125

San Francisco at Washington, 1:35 EST
Barry Zito (L) vs. Matt Chico (L)
Zito: San Francisco 16-26 SU in day games
Chico: 10-4 TSR in home games

Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 2:05 EST
Tom Gorzelanny (L) vs. Jeff Suppan (R)
Gorzelanny: Pittsburgh 7-32 SU away off a loss by 4+ runs
Suppan: Milwaukee 25-10 SU at home after scoring 8+ runs

Cincinnati at St. Louis, 2:15 EST
Bronson Arroyo (R) vs. Braden Looper (R)
Arroyo: 2-10 TSR away with a line of +125 to -125
Looper: St. Louis 14-6 SU on Sundays

Houston at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 EST WGN
Woody Williams (R) vs. Rich Hill (L)
Williams: 8-2 TSR away in day games
Hill: Cubs 10-25 SU at home off a one-run win

LA Dodgers at San Diego, 4:05 EST
Chad Billingsley (R) vs. Justin Germano (R)
Billingsley: Dodgers 15-7 SU away after losing 2 of their last 3 games
Germano: San Diego 1-11 SU off 6+ home games

Colorado at Arizona, 4:40 EST
Josh Fogg (R) vs. Brandon Webb (R)
Fogg: Colorado 1-8 SU after allowing 10+ runs
Webb: 14-6 SU after scoring 8+ runs


American League

Tampa Bay at NY Yankees, 1:05 EST
Jason Hammel (R) vs. Andy Pettitte (L)
Hammel: Tampa Bay 21-65 SU as a road underdog of +150 or less
Pettitte: 21-8 TSR in the second half of the season

Seattle at Toronto, 1:05 EST
Jeff Weaver (R) vs. AJ Burnett (R)
Weaver: Seattle 1-12 SU away revenging 4+ losses
Burnett: Toronto 24-9 SU at home with a total of 9 to 9.5 runs

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland, 1:05 EST
Jose Contreras (R) vs. Jake Westbrook (R)
Contreras: 3-16 TSR as an underdog
Westbrook: Cleveland 38-13 SU at home off BB wins

Baltimore at Boston, 2:05 EST
Daniel Cabrera (R) vs. Jon Lester (L)
Cabrera: Baltimore 3-11 SU revenging a loss scoring 1 or 0 runs
Lester: Boston 22-5 SU off BB games scoring 8+ runs

Kansas City at Minnesota, 2:10 EST
Brian Bannister (R) vs. Boof Bonser (R)
Bannister: Kansas City 24-10 Over on Sundays
Bonser: 16-7 TSR with a line of +125 to -125

(TC) Texas at LA Angels, 8:05 EST ESPN2
Kason Gabbard (L) vs. John Lackey (R)
Gabbard: Texas 20-8 Under off a win by 2 runs or less
Lackey: 21-7 TSR pitching off a team loss

Detroit at Oakland, 4:05 EST
Nate Robertson (L) vs. Dallas Braden (L)
Robertson: 8-19 TSR with a line of +125 to -125
Braden: Oakland 15-5 Under at home off 5+ home games

** (TC) Denotes Time Change

[Udog]

MLS
Kicks and Pick: Colorado at Columbus


Sunday, September 2


Colorado Rapids at Columbus Crew (+240, draw +220, -105)

Fourth place in the West meets fifth place in the East, but this game is much more important than it sounds. With the new playoff qualification format – where points matter more than conference position – the Rapids and the Crew are tied for the final postseason berth.

The Crew have stumbled through a tough run in August and are winless in four league games. But their opposition included DC United and Houston. It wasn’t a big shock that they failed to win during that stretch.

But with a playoff spot on the line Columbus has to get back to winning ways on Sunday. And that means they have to score goals; they only managed three in the past four league games.

The scoring duties fall mainly to Ricardo Virtuoso, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno, and it’s hard to see that trio – who've combined for eight goals and 15 assists – staying quiet much longer. Three of the four games Columbus played last month were on the road. Their offense should improve on returning to Crew Stadium – where they've hit the net 14 times in 11 games this season.

With that said, the Crew face stiff opposition in the form of a Rapids side on a three-game winning run. Colorado has take points from Houston, New England and L.A. in the past few weeks.

But those were all home games and the Rapids are 2-6-2 on the road this season. It’s hard to see them getting an away win against Columbus, but it’s also hard to see them losing with the way they are playing. It looks like a draw this Sunday – the same result when the two sides met earlier this season.

Pick: Draw +220

[pm530]

Baseball Today - September 2

SCOREBOARD
Sunday, Sept. 2
Texas at L.A. Angels (8:05 p.m. EDT). John Lackey looks to be the majors first 17-game winner.

STARS
Saturday

-- Clay Buchholz, Red Sox, threw a no-hitter in a 10-0 win over Baltimore.

-- Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, homered and drove in four runs to lead New York to a 9-6 win over Tampa Bay.

-- Mike Pelfrey, Mets, allowed one hit in six innings to win his first game of the season after seven losses and New York beat Atlanta 5-1.

-- Justin Verlander and Curtis Granderson, Tigers. Verlander struck out 10 and Granderson had four hits to help Detroit beat Oakland 6-1.

-- Paul Byrd, Indians, threw a four hitter and Cleveland blanked the White Sox 7-0.

-- Tony Clark, Diamondbacks, drove in five runs and Arizona beat Colorado 13-7.

BUCH'NO'LZ

Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after being called up by the Boston Red Sox. The lanky Texan baffled Baltimore with an assortment of curves, changeups and fastballs in the Red Sox's 10-0 victory Saturday night. He struck out nine, walked three and hit one batter. Buchholz, who turned 23 on Aug. 14, pitched the third no-hitter of the season -- following Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox against Texas on April 18 and Justin Verlander of Detroit against Milwaukee on June 12 -- and became the 21th rookie to throw a no-hitter. It was also Boston's 17th no-hitter.

SLUMPING

Seattle lost its season-high eighth straight, 2-1 to Toronto on Saturday. The Mariners have fallen out of the race in the AL West, and are losing ground in a wild-card race they were leading earlier this week. ... Atlanta lost for the eighth time in their last 11 games to fall 6 1/2 behind the Mets in the NL East after a 5-1 loss.

STREAKING

Cleveland won its eighth straight game, 7-0 over the White Sox on Saturday. Paul Byrd has won his last four starts and seven of his last eight decisions after picking up the win.

OOPS

Toronto batted out of order in Saturday's 2-1 win over Seattle on Saturday. In the second inning, Lyle Overbay flied out to start the second before Aaron Hill doubled to short left. Mariners manager John McLaren came out with his lineup card, which showed Hill preceding Overbay. After the umpires huddled to discuss the situation, Hill was called out. Overbay continued to bat ahead of Hill for the rest of the game. The last team to bat out of order was the Kansas City Royals on July 1, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. David DeJesus led off the first against the Angels with a single, with Angel Berroa listed as the first batter.

BAT GATE

In a strange sequence Saturday, Akinori Iwamura and Alex Rodriguez had their bats confiscated by umpires during Tampa Bay's 9-6 loss to the New York Yankees. First, the Yankees requested that Iwamura's unusual model, featuring a flat end rather than a rounded one, be inspected to make sure it met major league specifications, according to Tampa Bay spokesman Chris Costello. Not to be outdone, Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon asked the umps to examine Rodriguez's bat an inning later. Iwamura has been using the same model all season. It was checked by umpires and deemed acceptable during a game at Arizona in June.

PEDRO'S RETURN

New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, recovering from rotator cuff surgery, will make his first start of the season on Monday at Cincinnati. Martinez did a great job throwing 53 pitches in a Friday night bullpen session making the Mets' decision to activate him easy. The three-time Cy Young winner underwent surgery last Oct. 5.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

Los Angeles' Garret Anderson homered and drove in four runs, but the Angels lost 7-6 to Texas on Saturday.

SNAPPED

Washington stopped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over San Francisco on Saturday.

SPEAKING

"It's just retaliation. There's nothing wrong with Alex Rodriguez. He's a great player. It was tit-for-tat entirely, I said, 'It's an illegal bat.' I said, 'I can't see inside it, but there might be something inside that bat. I don't have X-ray vision. He's got 45 home runs, it's Sept. 1.' That was my argument." -- Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon on why he asked umpires to confiscate New York slugger Alex Rodriguez's bat during a 9-6 loss Saturday. Earlier in the game, the Yankees requested that Akinori Iwamura's unusual model, featuring a flat end rather than a rounded one, be inspected to make sure it met major league specifications.

SEASONS
Sept. 2

1952 -- Mike Fornieles of the Washington Senators, in his major league debut, pitched a one-hitter for a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics in the second game of a doubleheader.

1965 -- Ernie Banks hit his 400th home run as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 at Wrigley Field. The blow came off Curt Simmons in the third inning.

1971 -- Cesar Cedeno's 200-foot fly ball in the fifth inning fell for an inside-the-park grand slam as second baseman Jim Lefebvre and right fielder Bill Buckner of the Dodgers collided. The hit helped the Houston Astros beat Los Angeles 9-3.

1972 -- Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs retired 26 consecutive San Diego Padres before walking pinch-hitter Larry Stahl on a 3-2 pitch. Pappas then retired Gary Jestadt to finish his 8-0 no-hitter.

1987 -- Houston's Kevin Bass went 4-for-4, including home runs from both sides of plate, and drove in three runs as the Astros posted a 10-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Bass became the first National League player to homer from both sides of the plate twice in one season.

1990 -- Dave Stieb, who had lost three no-hit bids with one out to go in the previous two seasons, finally pitched one as the Toronto Blue Jays beat Cleveland 3-0. It was the record ninth no-hitter of the season.

1993 -- The expansion Colorado Rockies drew 47,699 fans for their 6-1 loss to Montreal to set a single-season NL attendance record with a 62-game total of 3,617,863. Los Angeles set the previous record of 3,608,881 in 1982. Toronto set the major league record of 4,028,318 in 1992.

1996 -- Mike Greenwell set a major league record by driving in all nine Boston runs, the final one on a 10th-inning single to give the Red Sox a 9-8 victory over Seattle.

1999 -- Cal Ripken Jr. hit his 400th career home run, joining an exclusive circle of sluggers. Ripken connected off right-hander Rolando Arrojo in the third inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

2001 -- New York's Mike Mussina came within one strike of pitching the first perfect game in the 89-year history of Fenway Park in a 1-0 win over Boston. Mussina's bid was broken up when Carl Everett knocked a pinch-hit single.

2002 -- Miguel Tejada had his second straight game-ending hit as he singled home Terrence Long with the bases loaded in the ninth inning as Oakland tied the longest winning streak in AL history with a 7-6 victory over Kansas City. Oakland, which overcame a 5-0 deficit, equaled the 19 straight wins by the 1906 Chicago White Sox and the 1947 New York Yankees.

2003 -- Eric Gagne set a major league record with his 55th consecutive save in Los Angeles' 4-1 victory over Houston.

2004 -- Gary Sheffield became the second player in history to drive in 100 runs for five different teams, picking up three RBIs in the New York Yankees 9-1 win over Cleveland. Sheffield joined Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers (1887-94) as the only players to accomplish the feat. Sheffield previously drove in 100 runs for San Diego (1992), Florida (1996), Los Angeles (1999-01) and Atlanta (2003).

Today's birthday: Rich Aurilia 36.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Dennis14072]

Thanks Guys, always appreciated!

[Udog]

Sunday Night Baseball: Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels


Game: Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels

Line: -222, 9

Has the West been won?

Eight days ago the Seattle Mariners trailed the Angels by 1 ½ games in the American League West. But a recent three-game sweep of the M’s has put the Halos back in cruise control.

“We’re still not looking at the standings,” Angels bench boss Mike Scioscia told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s still a lot of baseball left, and our task right now is to take it game by game, to bring our game to the field every night. The standings will be our report card at the end, but you don’t want anything filtering in now that’s a distraction. We know we have to play well to reach our goal.”

Scioscia isn’t happy with his ballclub’s effort the last two days. On Friday, Vladimir Guerrero mishandled a harmless pop up allowing two unearned runs to cross the plate and poor late-inning relief meant L.A. had to go into extra innings to fend off the Rangers.

Yesterday, Cy Young candidate Kelvim Escobar was chased out in the third inning after giving up five runs. The Halos made a late charge but couldn’t overcome the large deficit.

“We’ve been playing at a high level for a long time, but we’ve had two days when we haven’t played the way we can,” Scioscia said. “For the most part, we’ve had two games where we didn’t get things done. We were fortunate to come away with a win, but we have to pick it up.”


In for the long haul

It’s been a bumpy road for the Rangers' Ron Washington in his first go as a manager of a major league team. Starting the season a dismal 23-42, Texas has gone 38-31 since. The front office didn’t ignore the improvement of the team and rewarded Washington with a contract extension.

“Adversity reveals character,” Texas general manger Jon Daniels told the Dallas Morning News. “It would have been easy for Ron to react negatively, but I think he learned. I do feel confident with his leadership going forward that we’re headed in the right direction.”

There was a positive atmosphere in the clubhouse once the players got the news.

“Any time you can get stability in the organization, that’s a positive in my eyes,” Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler said.


Home is where the heart is

No major league squad is better at home than the Angels. Los Angeles is playing with a .682 winning percentage in the confines of Angel Stadium.

The Halos’ offense and pitching is substantially better at home compared with on the road. Los Angeles averages 5.9 runs and owns a 3.78 ERA as the host, but just 4.42 runs per game and 4.53 ERA as the visitor.

“They call it home-field advantage for a reason,” center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. told reporters. “They always say if you play .500 on the road and win series at home, you should get to the playoffs. I’d love to be 10 games over .500 on the road, but that’s not always the way it goes.”

The Angels 35-34 away record isn’t too shabby considering they went 1-7 on their first road trip. Still, the team is highly motivated to finish with the top record in the American League which would secure a home-field edge in the playoffs.


Texas turnaround

Here’s a stat that may strike you: The Rangers have finished with a sub 4.00 ERA in back-to-back months for the first time since 1992. Texas improved on a team 3.95 ERA in July with a 3.76 mark in August.

Kevin Millwood is a great example of the transformation the team's starting pitching staff has undergone. The ace carried a 6.79 ERA on June 21 but is 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA over his last 12 starts.

“I think everybody here knows what if feels like to lose, so I think it’s good to know what it takes to win,” Millwood told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

[Udog]

Six-pack for Sunday


-- Two starting pitchers in Colorado-Arizona game threw a total of 105 pitches in 4.1 IP, getting 12 of 27 hitters out. as they allowed combined twelve runs, which isn't as bad as...

-- ......Phillies' JD Durbin, who allowed seven runs on just 19 pitches, getting no one out but himself.

-- Home side won seven of eight NL games Saturday; only the Mets won on foreign soil.

-- For a lousy team, Giants have some good young pitchers.

-- Bronx Bombers confiscated bat of Akinori Iwamura, who has blasted four homers this season. Rays go on a streak where they win 7 of 8, and they get accused of cheating.

-- Rays then had Alex Rodriguez' bat confiscated; wait til Canseco writes his next book, accusing Mr Rodriguez of taking steroids. Lets see what ol' Joe Torre confiscates then

[Udog]

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a day of college football


13) Final score: Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32. I better not see Michigan in the top 25 at any time this season, don't care how many other games they win. First of all, scheduling I-AA team is inexcusable for team like Michigan, but LOSING TO THEM?????? Pack your bags, Lloyd Carr.

12) Speaking of which, starting Tuesday, we'll have a weekly top 13 list in college football, so log on for that on Tuesday.

11) Check out these two scores:
Georgia Tech 33, Notre Dame 3
Washington 42, Syracuse 12. Wonder how that 10-year deal Charlie Weis got is going to look around Halloween, because Ty Willingham got fired for being 6-5 in his third season .

10) Early nominee for worst call of year was interception by a Boston College player in back of end zone, when he dove for ball and lost it, as soon as he hit the ground. They reviewed it, confirmed call, making you wonder. Horrendous call.

9) Total yards in Arkansas State-Texas game: 397-340, with ASU having edge. Longhorns led 14-3 at half, so they had a conservative approach,, probably, but still..............

8) Houston, Oregon both ran ball for 300+ yards at Autzen; Coogs gained 538 total yards with QB playing his first game, so thats good omen for them, not good news for the Ducks.

7) Virginia had just five first downs at Wyoming, as Cowboys outgained them, 474-108. Disappointing performance there.

6) Bowling Green went for two in OT, got it, and won opener at Minnesota, 32-31, after blowing 21-0 halftime lead............. Memphis trailed Ole Miss 20-0 at half, but scored at 0:31 mark to make it 23-21, then missed 2-point conversion, so Memphis (+2.5) covered game they were dead in at the half.

5) Louisiana-Lafayette ran ball for 311 yards at So. Carolina in 28-14 loss to Gamecocks, who were playing without Mitchell, but the QB doesn't play defense. Bad game for Carolina.

4) Michigan wasn't only team to lose to I-AA foe Saturday; Rice lost 16-14 to Nicholls State, a terrible loss for the Owls.

3) UTEP beat New Mexico 10-6, but new Miner QBs weren't good, completing 8 of 26 passes, converting 3 of 12 on third down. Lobos outgained UTEP 383-209 but still lost, in front of 43,326 in the Sun Bowl.

2) Cody Hawkins looked like a very poised QB in Colorado's OT win, taking some of heat off the coach, who is his father. For a redshirt freshman in his first game, he was terrific.

1) To prove that TV runs the world, you'd think ESPN would have some college football on TV Sunday night, but with a NASCAR race and Angels-Rangers, there's no room for it, so there is no football Sunday, the last Sunday in '07 without it.