Tuesday sports preview

Wow did I pick a slow sports week to start this. Note: All times Pacific, because I live out there. GB = Games Behind, WC = Wild Card

GAME OF THE DAY: Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 4 p.m. (No National TV) Probables: A great pitching matchup of Jeremy Bonderman vs. C.C. Sabathia

These teams are tied for first place. That should be enough for you to want to watch this game. Both teams have fallen behind the wild card leaders, and if that holds up, only one of these two teams is making the playoffs, unless the Twins decide to win about 20 games in a row.

The Tigers are coming off of a loss to the A’s on Monday, while the Indians had Monday off. Grady Sizemore got to play wiffle ball.

OTHER NOTABLE MLB GAMES:

Angels (69-47, 3 game lead) at Toronto Blue Jays (59-58, 7.5 GB of WC), 4 p.m. (TV: FSN West in L.A. area) The Angels start a crazy 7-game, 6-day road trip in Toronto and Boston. Probables: Joe Saunders at Roy Halladay — I bet you can’t guess which one has the lower ERA? (Click on their names to find out)

Colorado Rockies (61-56, 2 GB of WC) at San Diego Padres (63-54, WC leader, 3 GB in NL West). If Arizona falters like some people think they will, it’s up to these two teams to catch them with the Dodgers falling off the face of the Earth. Probables: Jeff Francis at Greg Maddux — I bet you can’t guess which one has the lower ERA? (Click on their names to find out)

Did I just do a MLB preview without mentioning the Yankees or the Red Sox? It really is possible people.

OTHER NOTABLE SPORTS ON TV: None. None at all, unless you count the Little League Softball World Series (4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2), and again, I’d prefer not to watch 12 year olds play any sport.

Mark Cuban’s honesty is great

Larry Brown Sports has a great post with some comments Mark Cuban made on Fox Sports Radio:

Irvin: “I can dance with you all day right there, it sounds like you’re saying I’d rather just tank a couple games, but I won’t even go there Mark, let’s move on.”

Cuban: “I’ll be the first to admit Michael, I would tank a lot of games.”

Irvin “You would tank games? Mark wait, you would tank games to get the first pick in the draft?”

Cuban: “Yes, yes see it depends on where you are.”

Cuban admitted what many people believe about NBA teams and also made a good point. It didn’t work out this year for Memphis or Boston,  but if your team is bad and there’s one or two players available in the draft that can really change the direction of your franchise, it’s in your best interest to do all that you can to improve your odds to get that player.

The NBA lottery system is set up where the worst teams don’t automatically got the top picks in the draft, they just have a better chance than the rest of the non-playoff teams to get a top-3 pick. But even with a better percentage, there is still a motivation for general managers and coaches not to do things that are in the best interest of winning.

I don’t believe the players on these bad teams would ever intentionally throw a game, I believe that they try hard when they’re on the court. But there have been allegations of GMs and coaches on bad teams benching their better players down the stretch. And while this didn’t work this year for two of the alleged franchises, Memphis and Boston, that doesn’t mean it won’t work in future years.

To avoid any future accusations of tanking, the NBA needs to do something to change its lottery system. Maybe give all the non-playoff teams an equal chance at the top 2 picks? Or all of the non-playoff teams that didn’t come within two or three games of the playoffs (to eliminate the decent teams from the pool to see who gets the top picks)?

Monday Links

Remember when ESPN and Dan Patrick said that DP would be on this week for a farewell week? Well, as Either Relevant or True is reporting, that’s not happening. I know he’s leaving to compete with you, ESPN, but the man was in Bristol forever. Stay classy, ESPN. Larry Brown Sports says that when Dan Patrick’s new show debuts, it may be on opposite Colin Cowherd. Anything that can take away from Cowherd’s ratings is a good thing.

A commenter on DumpDorrell says that former offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda found out he was fired by a text message. If it’s true, this classiness is yet another reason to get rid of Karl Dorrell.

In another UCLA item, a diary at Bruins Nation shows off a nice flow chart about the Eric Scott situation.

Save the Apple! (Lion in Oil)

A sportswriter admitting he was wrong about statistical analysis in baseball? That never happens. (Fire Joe Morgan)

Top 10 signs that Red Sox fan is losing it (Epic Carnival)

The Angels are rolling

The Angels just finished off a homestand where they won five of six games against the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins. The Halos are now 69-47, only 1/2 of a game behind Boston for the best record in the majors.

For all the talk about how the Angels needed to add a big bat, the Halos’ offense is fourth in the AL in runs scored, behind only Detroit, the Yankees and the Red Sox. They may not have a big-name behind Vladimir Guerrero, but have a lineup of good hitters who seem to take turns being hot. Nine Angels with at least 200 plate appearances have an OPS+ of 100 or more. This past week it was Maicer Izturis, who hit three home runs.

The Angels have a tough roadtrip this week at Toronto for three and at Boston for four, but if they do well this week, watch out. You may be looking at the best all-around team in baseball.

Bobby Jenks’ streak is ridiculous

Baseball is a record of legendary records and streaks. So had I never heard of this one before?

Bobby Jenks has gotten 41 straight batters out, tying the record also held by Jim Barr. That’s unbelievable. That’s like a perfect game and a half. Or almost 14 straight innings without allowing a baserunner.

The similar record that people know more is Orel Hershiser’s 59 consecutive scoreless innings streak, but I think that Jenks’ record should be considered just as prestigious for relievers, since Jenks doesn’t throw multiple innings at once. He, and pitchers like him, are called on to pitch one inning at at a time, maybe two, and sometimes come in with runners already on base.

Reaction from around the blogosphere:
Bugs and Cranks
Awful Announcing
The Joy of Sox
Log’s Blog

Monday sports preview

I hope this becomes a regular feature here at Obscure Sports Quarterly. We’ll see how it evolves. And of course, I pick a slow sports day to start this off.

Note: All times Pacific, because I live out there. GB = Games Behind, WC = Wild Card

GAME OF THE DAY: Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, 7 p.m. (No national TV)

Today is rare in that there are no games between teams with winning records. This is the closest we have to that, and I refuse to pick an exhibition football game or a little league game as my Game of the Day.

This game has a very appealing pitching match-up, featuring Johan Santana vs. Felix Hernandez. That would be fun to watch, if ESPN2 decided to show us this game instead of the much less prestigious Astros-Dodgers game.

The Twins need to get hot badly. They’ve dropped to 58-59, lost four games in a row, getting swept by the Angels over the weekend. Aaron Gleeman already seems to be counting them out. The Twins are now seven games behind the Detroit Tigers for first place (and even further out of the wild card).

The Mariners have played out of their minds this season, but in an American League that is filled with great teams, the Mariners have to keep winning, as this excellent post at Lookout Landing says. At 65-50, the M’s are 3 1/2 games behind the Angels for first place and are tied with the Yankees for the AL Wild Card lead.

THE REST OF THE MLB SCHEDULE:

San Francisco (49-67) at Pittsubrgh (48-66), Doubleheader, Game 1 starts at 2 p.m. Dreadful. Just Dreadful. Probables: Who cares?

Baltimore (54-62) at New York Yankees (66-51, tied for WC lead, 4 GB of 1st), 4 p.m. Remember when people left the Yankees for dead earlier this year? That was dumb. Probables: Jeremy Guthrie at Chien-Ming Wang

Tampa Bay (45-72) at Boston (70-47, 4 game lead), 4 p.m. Nothing cures a slump like the Devil Rays coming to town. Probables: James Shields at Tim Wakefield

Oakland (56-62) at Detroit (65-52, 0.5 game lead), 4 p.m. Detroit is back in first. And part of me is still waiting for the A’s to go on their annual 20-game winning streak. Probables: Chad Gaudin at Chad Durbin

Toronto (59-57, 6.5 GB in WC) at Kansas City (51-65), 5 p.m. The Blue Jays have a winning record and a series against the Royals? Could they get back in the race? Probables: Jesse Litsch at the immortal Odalis Perez

Houston (52-65) at Los Angeles Dodgers (60-57, 3 GB in WC), 7 p.m, Nationally Televised on ESPN2. It was just three weeks ago the Dodgers had the best record in the National League. Probables: Roy Oswalt at Chad Billingsley

OTHER SPORTS ON TV:

Exhibition NFL, Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers, 5 p.m., ESPN. This will be overhyped and analyzed all day on the ESPN networks today. And sadly, this game will still probably get higher ratings than Astros-Dodgers on ESPN2.

Little League World Series, Mid-Atlantic Regional Final, 5 p.m. ESPN2. I don’t watch the Little League World Series anymore, because when I used to, I would always scrutinize the players like they were pros. Then I realized I was a horrible person because they were only 12 year olds.