Monday Trends and Indexes 09/03

[pm530]

Six-pack for Monday

-- Tigers led 7-0, somehow lost to A's, as Suzuki tied game with homer to center, then ex-Tiger farmhand Hannahan got game-winning double that landed on left-field foul line.

-- Brewers are 12-3 in last fifteen Sheets starts; they were a dismal 15-26 while Sheets was on the DL, but are 3-1 since he was activated last week.

-- Brian Bannister won seven of his last eight starts.

-- Its little late for this year, but Barry Zito has allowed just four runs in his last 29 innings pitched.

-- Cardinals are 15-4 in their last nineteen home games.

-- Mariners' nine-game losing streak, and Tigers' 5-10 skid is pushing Bronx towards playoffs, even after they lost two of three at home to Devil Rays.

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[pm530]

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend.......

13) Worst trade of baseball season? How about Mets giving Brian Bannister to the Royals, for Ambiorex Burgos? Young Bannister, whose dad Floyd also pitched in bigs, is 7-1 in his last eight starts for the sub-.500 Royals.

12) Pedro Martinez makes his first '07 start for Mets Monday; Mark Mulder makes first '07 start for Cardinals Wednesday.

11) When A's beat Detroit Sunday, it was their 10th walk-off win of season; their last three wins are all in extra innings.

10) Final round of PGA event from Boston is Monday, with a Eldrick Woods-Mickelson pairing in second-to-last group.

9) Texas Rangers are 40-31 since June 13, 4th-best record in baseball since that day.

8) Americans made a mockery of the FIBA Americas tourney; good job by Coach/Educator K; things will be interesting in Beijing next summer. Argentinians will be much stronger then

7) By the way, the NBA should go to international rules; that game is more fun to watch than the NBA product.

6) Kind of hard to have faith in Jacksonville after they fired a starting QB, just a week before the season starts. Also hard to believe Byron Leftwich will be out of work for very long.

5) One of my top 10 all-time moments in sports was the night Leftwich broke his leg in college, went to hospital, got back to field while game was still going on, and went back in and played, with his linemen carrying him down field after every completed pass. I still get chills thinking about it.

4) I would guess Baltimore is a logical destination, but lot of teams would upgrade by bringing Leftwich in; its just that the timing is pretty awful for this kind of thing.

3) There were 894 less penalties called in NFL last year than in 2005, with 301 less holding penalties. Very good news; lets hope that trend continues this season.

2) The Raiders cut their 3rd-round draft pick? They were 2-14 last year, and they drafted a guy in third round that they cut? That helps to explain why they were 2-14 last year.

1) I wonder if Roger Goodell thought his first few months as NFL Commissioner would be as wild as they have been? Now he has to suspend an assistant coach for taking drugs? Odd.

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[Udog]

MLB
Short Sheet


Monday, September 3rd

National League

Philadelphia at Atlanta, 1:05 EST TBS
Jamie Moyer (L) vs. Lance Cormier (R)
Moyer: 9-1 TSR vs. division opponents
Cormier: Atlanta 5-12 SU at home with a total of 10+ runs

Florida at Washington, 1:05 EST
Rick VandenHurk (R) vs. Jason Bergmann (R)
VandenHurk: Florida 2-12 SU away off BB Overs
Bergmann: 8-2 SU after scoring and allowing 3 runs or less

NY Mets at Cincinnati, 1:15 EST
Pedro Martinez (R) vs. Aaron Harang (R)
Martinez: Mets 16-5 Over off BB road division wins
Harang: 9-1 TSR in day games

Houston at Milwaukee, 2:05 EST
Roy Oswalt (R) vs. Ben Sheets (R)
Oswalt: 22-4 TSR in the second half of the season
Sheets: 10-20 TSR vs. division opponents

Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 2:15 EST
Ian Snell (R) vs. Kep Wells (R)
Snell: Pittsburgh 15-6 Over away off 3+ division games
Wells: 4-15 TSR as a home favorite of -125 to -150

San Francisco at Colorado, 3:05 EST
Matt Cain (R) vs. Jeff Francis (L)
Cain: 4-11 TSR with a line of +125 to -125
Francis: 17-8 TSR pitching off a team win

LA Dodgers at Chicago Cubs, 4:05 EST WGN
Esteban Loaiza (R) vs. Carlos Zambrano (R)
Loaiza: Dodgers 16-7 SU away after losing 2 of their last 3 games
Zambrano: Cubs 11-25 SU at home off a one-run win

San Diego at Arizona, 4:40 EST
Greg Maddux (R) vs. Micah Owings (R)
Maddux: San Diego 1-12 SU off 6+ home games
Owings: Arizona 16-5 Under off a division loss as a favorite


American League

Seattle at NY Yankees, 1:05 EST
Felix Hernandez (R) vs. Roger Clemens (R)
Hernandez: Seattle 7-2 SU as a road underdog of +150 to +200
Clemens: Yankees 11-18 SU after scoring 2 runs or less

Cleveland at Minnesota, 2:10 EST
CC Sabathia (L) vs. Johan Santana (L)
Sabathia: 12-3 TSR as an underdog
Santana: 1-4 TSR vs. Cleveland this season

Toronto at Boston, 7:05 EST
Jesse Litsch (R) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (R)
Litsch: Toronto 5-18 SU after winning 6 or 7 of their last 8 games
Matsuzaka: Boston 17-8 Over at home vs. division opponents

Baltimore at Tampa Bay, 7:10 EST
Kurt Birkins (L) vs. James Shields (R)
Birkins: Baltimore 2-13 SU revenging a loss as a home favorite
Shields: 10-3 TSR at home with a total of +125 to -125

Kansas City at Texas, 8:05 EST
Zach Greinke (R) vs. Kameron Loe (R)
Greinke: Kansas City 3-16 SU off BB games allowing 0 bullpen runs
Loe: Texas 20-8 SU as a home favorite of -150 or less

Oakland at LA Angels, 9:05 EST
Chad Gaudin (R) vs. Ervin Santana (R)
Gaudin: Oakland 24-12 Under vs. division opponents
Santana: 31-12 TSR in home games

** (TC) Denotes Time Change