Sunday Trends and Indexes 05/11

[pm530]

Six-pack for Sunday

-- Greg Maddux won his 350th game Saturday night, as Padre closer Tervor Hoffman got his 530th save.

-- Hoffman hadn't appeared in a game since April 30, since the Padres had mostly been losing games last couple weeks.

-- Magglio Ordonez is 7-13 in his career vs Mariano Rivera.

-- Clint Dolezel of Arena Football's Dallas Desperadoes is the first pro QB to throw 900+ TDs in his career; he threw eight in his game Saturday night.

-- Paul Goydos leads Players Championship thru first three rounds, but he was first player in tourney to hit his ball in the water by the island green on the 17th hole Thursday.

-- Goydos lost his sponsorship, was wearing a Long Beach State hat Saturday.

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

[pm530]

Sunday's List of 13: Random thoughts on a sunny day........

13) David Stern has to be happy, now that Knicks signed up Mike D'Antoni as coach, giving them instantly credibility as they distance themselves from the hideous Isiah Thomas era. Now, they just need to purge that roster a little, or a lot........

12) Now Stern can turn his attention to the mess in Seattle, as local interests try to keep team there, while league seems fixed on screwing Seattle and moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

11) I find it hard to believe they couldn't just move Grizzlies to Oklahoma; as long as John Calipari stays in Memphis with the college Tigers, no one's going to bitch about losing the awful Grizzlies. But then again, I don't understand business too well.

10) For the record, D'Antoni had a 253-156 record with Phoeniz I can see why they wanted to get rid of him. Not only is he a huge winner, his teams play a great style to watch. What in the name of Pete are the Suns thinking?

9) Reds' Jeff Keppinger went 5-5 with five singles in nightcap of twinbill Saturday, first Red to do that since Pete Rose in '70.

8) Blue Jays' season from hell continued, as Vernon Wells is out for 6-8 weeks with broken left wrist.

7) Texas Rangers are playing lot better; they've allowed total of four runs in last four games, with Sidney Ponson coming out of nowhere to toss two solid games.

6) Mariners and Toronto are both in freefall. Watching Mariner games with the Seattle announcers, you can hear frustration in their voices, and they don't need M's to win to keep their jobs.

5) Arizona rookie Scherzer allowed only one unearned run in six innings at Wrigley Saturday, but Arizona bullpen fell apart after he left game and Diamondbacks lost for fourth time in last five games, first slump of any kind for the 2008 Snakes.

4) Tampa Rays have tossed 22 consecutive scoreless innings, tying team record and have won last eight home games, three at Disney in Kissimmee, five at the Trop.

3) Cavaliers led Boston 43-16, they took Lebron out; Celtics go on 7-0 run, cut lead to 20, Lebron goes right back in. He has to be the MVP, just look at who his teammates are.

2) Pistons won in Orlando without Chauncey Billups? They're first road team in 12 games to win in this round of playoffs.

1) Rick Carlisle got $17.5M for four years, D'Antoni $24M; can you imagine if someone who has actually ever won conference title became a free agent? What would he be worth?

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

[pm530]

MLB


Sunday, May 11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday Night Baseball
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday Night Baseball primer: Red Sox-Twins

While the Red Sox are sitting right where most thought they would be, atop the tough A.L. East, the Twins are one of the surprise teams in the league.

Minnesota, despite losing some key players from last year’s team, is currently tied for first place in the struggling A.L. Central with an 18-17 record. After the loss of their top pitcher Johan Santana to the Mets and one of their top position players, Torii Hunter to the Angels, most were picking Minnesota to finish near the bottom of the A.L. Central but so far they have proven that may not be the case.

The Twins have the luxury of being at home in the rubber game of this three game set. While Minnesota has struggled on the road, they have been solid in the Humpty Dome with a 12-7 record. They had won eight straight at home before their 5-2 setback vs. the Red Sox last night. The Twins only series loss at home this year came at the hands of the Angels back in early April which was their first series at home this season. Tonight they try to keep that series streak alive with a win over Boston and Tim Wakefield.

Wakefield has dominated the Twins throughout his career with a 13-4 record and an ERA of 4.00 in 21 starts. In his last six starts vs. Minnesota dating back to 2004, he has allowed three earned runs or less in five of those contests. The knuckleballer has also eaten up innings averaging nearly seven innings per start in his last six outings vs. the Twins. The veteran right hander has started the 2008 season off on a very solid note with a 3-1 record and a 3.33 ERA. He has taken the hill seven times this season and six have been quality starts. Wakefield also enters this game with some big time momentum after his best performance of the season last Tuesday. In that game he held a solid Detroit lineup scoreless over his eight inning stint and allowed just two hits. It was his best start of the season.

While Wakefield is entering this game off his most impressive start, his counterpart, Nick Blackburn steps to the hill struggling a bit with his performance. Blackburn admits that he has not felt “comfortable” on the mound as of late and it has shown. In his first year as a starter, Blackburn looked pretty solid in his first few outings but has recently regressed. Minnesota has lost two of his last three starts and Blackburn has allowed 31 base runners in just 19 innings in those three games. His ERA in those three outings was 5.21. One thing he does have going for him tonight is the Red Sox are simply not very familiar with his stuff. The current players on Boston’s roster have only had 27 combined at bats vs. Blackburn with many of them never stepping to the plate against the right hander. He took the mound just once vs. Boston in a relief role last year and that’s it. Granted, Blackburn wasn’t very impressive in that outing allowing four earned runs in just one inning, however he does still have a bit of that “unknown” quality when facing most of the Boston line up tonight.

Despite what looks like an advantage on the mound, the Boston money line has actually dropped since opening at -130. As of this writing the consensus now sits at about -115 even though over 67 percent of the people have been wagering on Boston.

After splitting the first two games of the series, we’ll see if Minnesota might be for real and continue their solid play at home or if Boston will expose them as possible pretenders tonight.

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