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**Spark** · 04-16-2005, 11:54 AM

National League

Florida Marlins at New York Mets, 1:10 p.m.
Sunny. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 55.

St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 p.m.
Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 65.

Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 4:05 p.m.
Mostly sunny. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 55.

Arizona Diamondbacks at Washington Nationals, 7:05 p.m.
Clear. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 60.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 p.m.
Clear. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 65.

Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds, 1:15 p.m.
Mostly sunny. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 65.

San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 p.m.
Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 65.

San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.
Clear. Winds blowing from left to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 70.

American League

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 p.m.
Mostly sunny. Winds blowing from right to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 60.

Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 p.m.
Partly sunny. Winds blowing from left to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 65.

Anaheim Angels at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 p.m.
Partly sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 15-25 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 65.

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 4:35 p.m.
Mostly sunny. Winds blowing in from center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 60.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 p.m.
Clear. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Around 50.

Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals, 2:10 p.m.
Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 75.

Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 p.m.
Mostly clear. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game-time temperature: Near 75.

**Spark** · 04-16-2005, 11:55 AM

Game of Day
Marlins (Leiter) @ Mets (Martinez)-- Pedro's first home start for Mets, vs former Met Leiter, who din't leave on best of terms. Mets won five in row after 0-5 start; they've allowed just eight runs during win streak. Marlins allowed total of 20 runs in ten games, and they're 5-5, with four shutouts, and five unders in their last six games. Leiter is 0-1, 3.37 in his first two starts Pedro is 1-0, 2.40 in his first two Met starts.

Hot pitchers
-- Martinez is 1-0, 2.40 in his first two Mets' starts.
-- Pettitte has 3.18 RA in his first two '05 starts.
-- Cardinals are 11-5 in last 16 Carpenter road starts. Davis is 2-0, 2.77 in his first two 2005 outings.
-- Phillies scored 21 runs in winning Lieber's first two starts this season (2-0, 4.61).
-- Arizona is 2-0 in Ortiz starts (1-0, 4.09).
-- Schmidt is 2-0, 2.77 in his first two 2005 starts.
-- Padres are 2-0 in Eaton's '05 starts (1-0, 4.22).

-- Millwood is 0-1, 1.38 in his first two '05 starts, as the Tribe scored just four runs for him.
-- Buehrle is 1-1, 3.00 in first two '05 starts. Franklin is 2-1, 2.83 in his last four starts.
-- Detroit is 6-4 in last ten Bonderman road starts. KC is 7-1 in Anderson's last eight starts.
-- A's are 9-2 in Harden's last eleven starts.
-- Lopez is 2-0, 0.64 in his first two '05 starts.
-- Rogers is 0-0, 2.77 in two '05 starts, with both going extra innings. Chacin is 2-0, 2.45 in two '05 starts.

Cold pitchers
-- Milton is 1-1, 7.72 in his first two '05 starts; he lost six of his last seven home starts.
-- Smoltz is 0-2, 9.35 in his first two starts- Braves got total of one run in those two games.
-- Patterson pitched well in '05 debut (7 IP, two runs), but still has lost seven of his last eight starts.
-- Kip Wells is 0-2, 8.76 in his first two '05 starts, but Maddux is 0-1, 8.10 in his first two starts this season.
-- Kennedy is 0-1, 14.47 in his first two '05 starts.
-- Erickson allowed six runs in 4.1 IP in his first start of season; there is little to suggest that he isn't washed up.

-- Lefty Gassner makes his first start for Minnesota.
-- Both of Washburn's first two starts went extra innings (0-0, 4.91); he is winless in his last seven starts.
-- Bronx is 0-2 in Mussina starts (0-1, 7.36).
-- Boston is 0-2 in Clement starts (0-0, 5.23), with the bullpen losing both games, 4-3. Brazelton is 0-2, 4.38 in his first two starts this season.

Totals
-- Under is 5-1 in last six Florida games, 6-1 in the last seven Mets games.
-- Under is 6-2 in last eight Houston games, 5-2 in last seven Cincinnati contests, 7-1-1 last nine Pettitte starts.
-- Under is 4-0 in Miller Park games so far this season.
-- Over is 7-3 in Philadelphia games this season, 5-1 in Lieber's last six starts
-- Last five Arizona games stayed under the total.
-- Three of last four Pittsburgh games stayed under.
-- Total of 61 runs were scored in Colorado's first two home games. Giants scored 38 runs in winning four in a row vs Colorado this season.
-- Six of last eight San Diego games went over total.

-- Indians scored seven runs in first three home games.
-- Under is 6-3 in last nine White Sox games, 5-1 in the last six Buehrle starts.
-- Over is 5-1 in last six games for both Tigers, KC.
-- Five of last six Anaheim games went over the total.
-- Under is 4-1 in last five Bronx games, 4-0 in Oriole home games so far this season.
-- Tampa Bay allowed 35 runs in its last five games.
-- Seven of last nine Texas games went over the total.

Hot teams
-- Mets won their last five games, after 0-5 start.
-- Brewers are 5-0 if they score six or more runs, 0-4 if they don't.
-- Nationals allowed total of ten runs in winning their last three games. Arizona won four of last five games.
-- Dodgers won seven of last eight games, are 3-0 in their home games.

-- Twins scored 31 runs in winning last five games.
-- Orioles won four of their last five games.
-- Seattle is 3-1 on road, scoring 25 runs. White Sox are 5-2 in their last seven games.
-- Angels won three of their last four games.
-- Red Sox won three of their last four games.

Cold teams
-- Phillies six of their last nine games.
-- Reds lost five of their last six games. Astros are 1-3 on road so far this season.
-- Cubs are 3-6 in their last nine ballgames, losing three of last four.
-- Cardinals lost three of last four games, and allowed 35 runs in their last five contests.
-- Colorado lost its last eight games, and scored just 16 runs in last six games; they're 0-4 vs Giants in 2005.

-- Indians lost three of their last four games.
-- Devil Rays allowed 35 runs in losing four of last five.
-- Bronx lost six of its last eight games.
-- Texas allowed 58 runs in its last nine games.
-- Tigers lost four of last five games. Royals scored total of ten runs in losing first four at home.
-- A's lost five of their last seven games.
-- Toronto scored seven runs in its last three games.

**Spark** · 04-16-2005, 11:56 AM

Game of the Day
Nuggets @ Rockets-- In their early ABA days, the Denver team was the Rockets before Nuggets, and the Rockets were in San Diego as an NBA expansion club before they went to Texas, but thats not what makes this game good.

Nuggets are on ten-game win streak (8-1-1 vs spread) where they scored 115.4 ppg in last five, all of which went over, as teachings of ass't coach Moe taking hold Rockets won four in row and 15 of last 21, allowing an average of 89 ppg in their last three games. Teams' last meeting was January 9, long time ago for both.

Elsewhere, Knicks lost ten of last twelve games, but are 2-0 in last two on road, with eight of the 12 going over, as have seven of last nine Charlotte games. Bobcats won last two games, for third two-game win streak, but they failed in first two attempts at three-game streak, by 3,4.

Hawks lost 16 of last 17 games, just lost to Charlotte, an expansion team, 105-84 Wednesday. Five of last seven Hawk games went over. Chicago routed Orlando by 40 last night, edning two-game slide, as they ready for their first post-MJ playoff. Last three Bull games went under.

Memphis lost three in row and failed to cover last four; they're 0-5 vs spread lasdt five times game went over the total. Griz lost in Denver last night, now visits the Alamo, where Spurs won their last nine games (7-2 vs spread). Griz upset Spurs here 84-82 on Feb 26.

Orlando lost 117-77 last night in Chicago, sixth loss in a row (1-4 vs spread last five) so gut check time, vs Buck squad that lost four in row (0-3-1 vs spread), 13 of last 15, and was walloped 99-73 at Detroit last night. Not a lot to choose from in this one.

You don't see many totals of 230, but Kings-Suns is one although Phoenix scored less than 100 in each of its last four games, all of which stayed under. Richardson has been hurt for Suns, who won nine of last 11 (7-3 against spread in last ten). Kings won their last four games.

Clippers won six of last eight home games, with losses in OT, vs Kings, Spurs- they lost 98-91 at Phoenix Friday, their third loss in last four overall. Hornets tanked 97-72 in Seattle last night, vs Sonic team that hadn't covered in its last eight games, or won in its last six. NO lost its last six games in row (0-5-1 vs spread).

**Spark** · 04-16-2005, 11:57 AM

13) Florida has thrown four shutouts in first 10 games, and is 5-5.

12) Willie Randolph is first manager in major league history to start career with five losses in row, then get five consecutive wins immediately after that.

11) Brian Cashman makes $1.15 million a year to be the GM of Bronx, a team whose payroll is $84 million more than anyone else's. Bronx is 4-6. Unrest is closer than you think, especially with Mets improving.

10) Why wasn't Nationals' home opener on ESPN?

9) Odd that George Bush threw out first ball at first ballgame in RFK in 34 years; the old Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers, a team Bush would eventually be the owner of, before moving on to job he has now.

8) Speaking of 1971, last year Senators existed, back then, the average salary was $31,543 ($2.6M), Carl Yaztrzemski had highest salary ($166,000; now, it is Alex Rodriguez, $25.7M) and average attendance in AL was 989,000. Today, the average is 2,300,000.

7) Since 2002, Tim Hudson has left 19 games with the lead, only to have his bullpen blow his win, the most in the major leagues. After him is Kip Wells (16), Oliver Perez (15) with Randy Wolf and Darrell May at 14.

6) Former NL President Bob Watson not only scored the 1,000,000th run in major league history, he is the only man to hit for cycle in both leagues.

5) Think we'll see hockey-style Plexiglass in right field in the next homestand at Fenway?

4) Iowa football is 31-7 the last three years, despite its using five different starting QB's the last five seasons.

3) Arizona Cardinals hosted 2005 Mascot Convention last week, as 16 NFL mascots practiced their antics as they visited hospitals, after studying best practices, industry terms and mascot innovations during the day.

2) Las Vegas wants the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. Will be very interesting to see if they get it, and if they do, who is in charge of pulling players away from the tables at a reasonable hour?

1) There is something not right about all these players leaving school early for the pros; the 20-year age limit will be a good thing. Taking guaranteed lottery money is never a mistake, but how about these kids who are marginal players, at best? What are they thinking?

1A) Any player who leaves school early and hires an agent is an idiot. Salaries for rookies are slotted, and any deal an agent could make for endorsements is one that the player himself could make, if he is good enough, and if he isn't, the agent won't be much help.

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