Baseball on TV During The Weekend & Beyond

Let’s go over what’s on TV baseball-wise this weekend. Lots of good stuff coming up. Here’s what’s on tap from the various TV partners starting today going through the middle of next week.

From MLB Network, games tonight and tomorrow.

August 13     7:30 p.m.      Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta

         8:00 p.m.      Boston at Texas [In select markets]

August 14     8:00 p.m.      Boston at Texas

                   8:00 p.m.      Milwaukee at Colorado [In Red Sox & Rangers markets only]

Now to Fox and the three regional games it will air on Saturday. Joe Buck is off this week and most likely the rest of the regular season. He’s done 13 games. This will be the 19th week of the MLB on Fox in 2010. So in essence, he’ll have worked half of the 26 weeks if he doesn’t do another regular season game. Why not get a guy who can do the entire season?

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

MLB Divisional Rivalries Heat Up This Saturday on FOX

Rosenthal:  Phillips Made A Huge Mistake Waking Up The Cardinals

MLB DIVISIONAL RIVALRIES COLLIDE THIS SATURDAY ON FOX – Following their mid-week tussle with NL central foe the Cardinals battle another division rival this Saturday, August 14 (4:00 PM ET) when they welcome the Chicago Cubs to Busch Stadium. FOX’s SATURDAY BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK also features a recharged Baltimore Orioles team led by newly appointed manager Buck Showalter facing off against Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays. As of today, the Orioles are 8-2 since Showalter began managing the team on August 2^nd. In San Francisco, the Padres face the Giants. This week, the pregame show originates live from AT&T Park in San Francisco with host Chris Rose. Once game action begins, Rose joins analyst Kevin Millar in the booth. 

For instant updates throughout the week and during games from the entire MLB on FOX crew, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MLBONFOX. Fans can gain more access to exclusive FOX Sports content by logging on to www.facebook.com/foxsports and www.myspace.com/foxsports.

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, Kenny Albert, Tim McCarver & Ken Rosenthal, going to 51% of USA

Busch Stadium – St. Louis, MO

MARKETS INCLUDE:  Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Greensboro, Greenville, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Knoxville, Louisville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tulsa 

Probable Pitchers: Carlos Zambrano, RHP (3-6, 5.46 ERA) vs. Jeff Suppan, RHP (1-6, 5.72 ERA)

Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays, DeWayne Staats & Mark Grace, going to 26% of USA

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, FL

MARKETS INCLUDE:  Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Dallas, Fort Myers, Hartford, Jacksonville, Miami, New York, Orlando, Providence, Raleigh, Tampa, Washington, West Palm Beach 

Probable Pitchers: TBD vs. Andy Sonnanstine, RHP (2-1, 3.98 ERA)

San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, Chris Rose & Kevin Millar, going to 22% of USA

AT&T Park – San Francisco, CA

MARKETS INCLUDE:  Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle 

Probable Pitchers: Mat Latos, RHP (12-5, 2.36 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner, LHP (4-4, 3.36 ERA)

ROSENTHAL: “BRANDON PHILLIPS MADE A HUGE MISTAKE IN WAKING UP THE CARDINALS” – MLB on FOX insider Ken Rosenthal believes that Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips woke up a sleeping giant with his comments and altercation against the Cardinals. “Brandon Phillips made a huge mistake. For whatever reason, the Cardinals have not played like the Cardinals for much of the season, performing inconsistently on offense and showing unusual lapses in fundamental play. With his vulgar, insulting comments, Phillips unified the Cardinals and gave them a new sense of purpose. The Reds are a very good team, but they are not yet accomplished or a team that perennially reaches the postseason. The Cardinals always seem to know what it takes. They proved it again this week.”

Sunday’s games and beyond are coming after the break.
Here’s something of interest on Sunday morning from ESPN’s Outside the Lines regarding the results of a study on MLB umpiring accuracy. The Comic Sans font is from ESPN, not me.

Results of ESPN Study on Umpire Accuracy to be Revealed Sunday on Outside the Lines

Just how accurate are Major League Baseball umpires on close calls? Sunday at 9 a.m. ET, Outside the Lines will reveal the results of an ESPN analysis of close calls made in 184 MLB games during a recent two-week period (June 29-July 11).

 

For the analysis, Outside the Lines reviewed all close calls – excluding balls and strikes — in which replay could have been used to determine whether a correct call was made. For this report, OTL watched every game for the two-week time frame to identify close plays and categorize them as “right,” “wrong,” or “too close to call.” Reporter T.J. Quinn details how MLB umpires fared in this review and how additional replay could impact the game.

Sunday’s piece, which also will run on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight, marks the first of an ongoing series, “The State of Officiating.”  The series will air periodically throughout the year. Each installment will examine a topic affecting officiating in professional or major college sports.

Now to the game TBS is airing Sunday afternoon. It’s one of those rare games that doesn’t involve either New York team, but it does involve TBS’ old team, the Atlanta Braves.

“Sunday MLB on TBS” to Broadcast a Coastal Fray With L.A. Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

“Sunday MLB on TBS” continues on August 15 when Brian McCann and the Atlanta Braves host Andre Ethier and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Turner Field at 1:30 p.m. (ET).  Vicente Padilla is scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers against the Braves’ probable starter Mike Minor.  Brian Anderson will call play-by-play alongside analyst Dennis Eckersley.

“Sunday MLB on TBS” includes match-ups on TBS eve
ry Sunday afternoon throughout the regular season.  The network will also begin providing exclusive coverage of the Division Series and the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in October 2010.

TBS has broadcast MLB coverage for more than 30 years serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007. 

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS SCHEDULE:

Sun., August 15

1:30 p.m.           Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

Announcers: Brian Anderson (play-by-play) and Dennis Eckersley (analyst)

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

 

Sun., August 22

2 p.m.                San Francisco Giants @ St. Louis Cardinals

Announcers: Ernie Johnson (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst) and David Wells (analyst)

Sun., August 29

2 p.m.                New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox

Announcers: Ernie Johnson (play-by-play) and Ron Darling (analyst)

Sun., September 5

1:30 p.m.           Chicago White Sox @ Boston Red Sox

Announcers: Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst) and John Smoltz (analyst)

For ESPN, we have the following games from Sunday through Wednesday. There’s no Monday Night Baseball due to ESPN carrying an exhibition football game plus ESPN2 carrying Little League Baseball. Because of that, ESPN is carrying an old school doubleheader on Wednesday.

Sunday Night Baseball (August 15)

Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, 8 p.m.

Commentators: Jon Miller, Orel Hershiser, Joe Morgan

ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Radio ESPN Deportes, ESPN Mobile TV

Wednesday Night Baseball (August 18)

San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies, 7 p.m.

Commentators: Karl Ravech, Aaron Boone, Chris Singleton

ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV

Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10 p.m.

Commentators: Dave O’Brien, Rick Sutcliffe

ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV

On Tuesday, MLB Network carries the following games.

August 17 – 7:00 p.m.      Texas at Tampa Bay  

August 17 – 7:00 p.m.      Detroit at New York Yankees [In select markets]

And you are set from today through mid-next week.