Victims of Perfection

Philip Humber (#41) achieved the greatest thing a major league pitcher can achieve during the regular season: a perfect game.

For those who need a definition, a perfect game happens when a pitcher plays the entire game without giving up any hits or walks. In other words, everyone who comes to bat is put out. Humber did this Saturday afternoon, playing for the White Sox in Seattle. He is just the 20th pitcher ever to pitch one during the regular season. More humorously, Humber is now the seventh ex-New York Met to throw one, and the Mets are still looking for their first perfect game.

But what wasn't so funny that afternoon, was how the game ended, especially to the Seattle Mariners. How quickly many of us forget about the team on the other side of history. Many Mariner fans were happy for Humber. He received a standing ovation at the end of the game. But fans at the game and at home were crying "foul", or "walk" rather, over one call...

That's because of the last out.

That was PH Brendan Ryan at the plate, as a last ditch effort to stay in the game for Seattle. Ryan worked the count to 3 balls and 2 strikes, and as you saw, Humber threw one low and away, an obvious ball four. But in the umpire's judgment, Ryan's bat movement was enough to count as a swing. The catcher didn't catch it, so he had to throw it to first base for the out. One can only imagine what would have happened if Ryan did not pause to argue the call with the umpire, before running to first.

Humber still would've had a no-hitter, and the M's haven't been held to no hits since the 90's. This is a rare feat, and by averaging one strikeout per inning, Seattle did not come to play this afternoon. If you're a Mariners fan upset by this one call, think about your team's shortcomings. Or at the very least, think about what it would've felt like if Seattle was in position to pitch a perfect game, only to come up short on the last out.

For all the M's fans who applauded Humber after the game, I salute you. For those who are still sour grapes over the issue, maybe you should listen to your Manager Eric Wedge, who said after the game, "When [Humber] did get behind and had to come in, we missed fastballs. It's a bad combination... I don't even want to talk about [the call]."

West Coast NBA: What's going on?

The NBA season is almost over, and what does the West Coast have to show for it?

Last month, I wrote about how the West Coast does not shine very bright right now when it comes to college basketball. The same appears to be case in pro ball... at least there's a momentum shift. There might be a bit of a talent migration, too... With two regular season games left, we'll analyze.

We'll start in Portland. Rip City became nip-tuck city this year. I hardly recognize this team now. It looks like the Blazers got a face lift, but only time will tell if this team is heading in the right direction. The changes made did not appear to improve their play. With no home games left, Portland is out of the playoff picture. Current record: 28-35

Sacramento is also out of the playoff picture. Although the Kings have been out for awhile, and this type of play is nothing new, have they thrown in the towel? Do they want to relocate? You'd think a team with a fanbase desparately trying to keep the team in Sactown would be a little better. Bottom line: small market = can't afford the talent. Current record: 20-42

Golden State. This is another franchise that has a history of medicority at best. They're just a shoulder shrug above Sacramento right now in the Pacific division. The Warriors appeared to have things heading in the right direction at the beginning of the year, but like Portland, fell and fell hard. They're out this year, and if they don't get it together soon, next year as well. Current record: 22-39

Phoenix. Finally, a team with a chance. The Suns aren't in the playoffs yet, but they're a game behind Utah for the final spot. Houston is tied with Phoenix, so once again, this might not happen. Current record: 32-30.

The Los Angeles teams are the highlight of the pack. The Lakers AND Clippers are doing great. Large market teams make large amounts of money and have large success. But what's weird is how these two teams have changed. We're no longer in the era of Laker dominance. In fact, the Clippers are only a half game behind the Lakers. Oh the times have changed. The Lakers (40-23) are 3rd in the west, the Clippers (39-24) are 4th. They could make a run in the playoffs.

That said, I don't think there's a team in L.A. who can even make the conference finals.
Short season or not, this is sad. If only the OKC Thunder were still playing in Seattle...

Track the playoff picture and the playoffs at NBA.com.

The NFL Schedule: Follow-Up

It's here! The 2012 NFL schedule is finally here, and with it, the road to Super Bowl XLVII.

Before I get to the highlights for the West Coast and post a link, I need to mention a few changes. The league changed two rules about the schedule this year that I did not cover previously.

First, the NFL got rid of the "no more than five primetime appearances rule". Although, eight different teams will have five primetime games. With the additional games on NFL Network for Thursday nights, the league decided to change the rule to "every team must have at least one primetime game".

And second, the NFL will make sure every team playing a Thursday primetime game will not have a road game in the prior week. This is another effort to give more rest time for players.

One other note, ESPN moved it's final Monday night game in Week 16 to Saturday night, since the Monday that week is Christmas Eve.

Here's a look at how the West Coast teams fared:

San Francisco and San Diego are set to appear in primetime the most. A few of these games could be flexed out of primetime however. We'll see.

Right out the gate, San Francisco will travel to Green Bay for a late afternoon game in Week 1. SF hasn't won there since 1990. Monday night in Week 11 features the 49ers at home against the Bears. Thanksgiving week (Week 12) has some of the best games to watch all-around this year, including 49ers at Saints, a huge rematch, this time on dome turf. Finally, the Week 15 Sunday night San Fran/New England game looks like what should be a rematch of last year's Super Bowl.

The 49ers will travel to MetLife Stadium this season... to face the Jets. But seriously, there will be a rematch of the NFC Championship this year in Week 6, albeit in San Francisco again (I'm not complaining). As it stands, the 49ers will have their fewest number of games on FOX this season since the 90's.

San Diego gets the Monday night late game in Week 1 at Oakland. They also close against the Raiders in Week 17. At the Saints in Week 5 Sunday night will be huge, as will the following week vs. Denver on Monday night. Who doesn't want to watch the Week 9 Thursday night game vs. KC? Let's not also forget the Rex Ryan/Norv Turner storyline for Week 16, with the Bolts playing in New York.

The Raiders get a great historical matchup against the Steelers in Week 3 at home. Then it's the at Peyton Manning (Denver) game in Week 4, plus home against the Broncos in Week 14. Oakland gets to host the Saints in a rare FOX game Week 11, the week SF is on Monday night. Not least this year will be QB Carson Palmer's return to Cincinnati in Week 12 on CBS.


Arizona will be looking to fight SF and Seattle this year for the NFC West title. Seattle games are both on FOX, with the home match in Week 1 and at the Hawks in Week 14. QB Kevin Kolb will be looking to prove himself against his former team in Week 3 vs. the Eagles. Week 8 puts the Cards at home on a Monday night vs. San Fran... very interesting, that was the 49ers only division loss last year. In Week 9, it's a trip to Green Bay on FOX. The Cardinals will end their season at the 49ers.

And finally, Seattle's key games this season could very well be their matchups with San Francisco. The first one in is San Francisco on a Thursday night (Week 7), then in Week 16, it will be a Christmas Eve eve rematch in Seattle. Other key games include Week 2 vs. Dallas, a Monday night HOME game vs. the Packers, and a trip to Chicago in Week 13 to prove playoff worthiness.

Follow the link to see the entire 2012 NFL season schedule.
The Kickoff Game is Wednesday, September 5, 5:30pm PT on NBC.

Red Hot Dodgers

We've seen a lot of weird things happen already in 2012 pro baseball.

I'm not just talking about injuries. Take a look at the standings and you'll get the idea. Right now, Baltimore is in first place in the AL East. The Nationals are leading the NL East, and the Mets aren't far behind. The Angels and Red Sox are in last place in their divisions. The Giants and Phillies both have losing records (but they play each other this week, so something's bound to change there).

And the Los Angeles Dodgers are 9-1?!   That's the best record in MLB right now.

It's hard to believe this team went bankrupt last year, and had issues with their TV rights and all. I seriously did not think this team would be worth the $2 billion invested into them during the offseason. Time will tell, but for now, this team is getting the job done on all levels.

The team doesn't just rely on flukes like that triple play last week. Just how are they getting it done?

Two names: Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. These two, both outfielders, are #1 and #2 in RBI's currently in all of Major League Baseball, respectively. Kemp also currently leads all of MLB in home runs (6) and batting average (.487). Last I heard, these two are responsible for more than half their team's scoring, ten games into the season. Now there's no "I" in offense, but there is in pitching...

The Dodgers are also red hot on the mound. Surprisingly, most of the production has not been from top starter Clayton Kershaw. Going into today, starter Chad Billingsley leads all pitchers in wins and is #2 among all pitchers in ERA (0.63). Plus, Dodgers closer Javy Guerra leads all closers in MLB with five saves. Superb playing on all sides of the baseball.

Kemp and Ethier especially have had seasons of success in the Dodgers abysmal records of the last few years. Kemp nearly won a batting title for the team last year, as L.A. barely finished with a winning record, 3rd place in the NL West. So go ahead and "think blue" when putting together your fantasy team lineup, and go ahead and smile smugly, Magic Johnson. If this team stays healthy, they will be a tough out.

A lot of weird things have happened this baseball season, the weirdest so far might just be me writing a blog praising the Dodgers on their early success.

The L.A. Dodgers are available regionally on FS Prime Ticket.

The NFL Schedule: Or Regional Action

Please excuse my lateness. Now the final part... Part V:

FOX/CBS (and NBC) are all national broadcasters with 100 - 200 regional affiliates and some owned-and-operated stations each. So all games played on Sunday are available for free, and the games you see that day depend where you live and which game(s) your local station selected to air. Each station picks the game(s) they want to air that week from the list of possible games, and the FOX/CBS network center in Los Angeles/New York City will send the game via satellite to your local station. So networks show games regionally, usually, depending on where certain teams' fans are located. Places where there's no real fan following get the top advertised game that week.

FOX/CBS may switch your market's game to a more competitive one during the game, but only if one team is ahead by at least 18 points in the second half. However, NFL rules say a primary team market must show the local home team's game the whole way through. Stations also have the option of requesting a constant feed of a game.

If a primary market team is part of the second game of a doubleheader, that game takes priority and must air at 4:15 ET, whether the game before it is over or not. This rule is also for secondary markets if the team is playing on the road. Stations may also request this. The rule conversely works when the local team's game starts at 1:00 ET. The late game is then joined in-progress.

The 49ers and Raiders are not scheduled to start games at the same time, unless they are playing each other. To help this scheduling problem, both teams are usually forced by the NFL to be scheduled for at least one primetime game each year, regardless of how well either played the year before. Even if they played on different networks at the same time, one game would have to be blacked out due to NFL rules. This can also be resolved in part by scheduling home games for one team during the other's bye week, especially the week the 49ers (NFC) play a game on CBS or the Raiders (AFC) play a game on FOX.

The New York Giants and Jets are in a similar situation, except, because both teams play in the Eastern time zone, occasionally the scheduling conflicts can be fixed by putting one of their games in the early time slot and the other in the late time slot. However, it is impossible for both teams to play a home game in the same day, since they share the same stadium. The only exception is if both teams play a game on a neutral field outside the country, as you'll read below.

Finally, the NFL also schedules special games during the regular season, such as an annual game in London and a few Buffalo Bills home games in Toronto. The London game is treated just as any other AFC or NFC road game, where the NFL alternates each year which conference is the home/road team. While the Toronto Bills games could be in primetime, CBS/FOX usually air all of them depending on the opponent.

When a market's regionally televised game ends before the others, FOX/CBS may change to bonus coverage of the ending of another game. However, the NFL has two rules designed to maximize the ratings of the late games on the network with the doubleheader. First, bonus coverage after any early time slot games cannot be shown past the start of the late time slot. This prevents people from continuing to watch the bonus coverage instead of seeing the beginning of the late doubleheader network's game. A station originally getting the game featured during bonus coverage will stay with it unless they are leaving to show a local team.

Second, bonus coverage cannot be shown after a late game on the single-game network because it will run in opposition to the ending of the late doubleheader network's game(s) and NBC's pre-game show. However, the single-game network usually schedules most of its top games in the early 1:00 ET time slot, so this does not tend to be an issue.

If the doubleheader network's games all finish before 7:30 ET, it is supposed to conclude the post-game show within ten minutes to not compete with NBC's Sunday night pre-game show. If any games finish after 7:30, the post-game program can run until 8:00 ET.

These complicated scheduling practices are a large part in why it takes so long for the NFL to put it's regular season schedule together. I hope these series of blogs has done a great deal of good in explaining this often over-looked process.