Daily Sports Roundup April 30
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The White Sox take on the Yankees, the Penguins host the Canadiens, and the Lakers try to close out their series in OKC.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA playoff schedule for Friday has Denver at Utah, Atlanta at Milwaukee, and the Lakers at Oklahoma City. The Jazz, Bucks, and Lakers all hold 3-2 advantages in those first-round playoff series and will be looking to advance to the second round with wins on Friday. Los Angeles got a leg up in their series with the pesky Thunder on Tuesday night, winning by a final score of 111-87 at home. Kobe Bryant was held to just 13 points for the Lakers in that contest, while Pau Gasol picked up the slack with 25 points. Kevin Durant had a team-high 17 points in the defeat for the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook poured in 15 points.
Meeting up on the diamond . . .
In the American League on Friday it'll be Boston at Baltimore, Minnesota at Cleveland, the Angels at Detroit, Oakland at Toronto, Kansas City at Tampa Bay, Texas at Seattle, and the White Sox at the Yankees. Chicago's John Danks (3-0, 1.55 ERA) is scheduled to take on New York's Andy Pettitte (3-0, 1.29 ERA) in that last matchup. Lefthander Danks beat the Mariners in his last trip to the mound, surrendering just two earned runs on seven hits over eight innings of work. Lefthander Pettitte was even better in his last start, holding the Angels to just one run on six hits over eight innings of work while striking out eight batters.
Meanwhile, the National League on Friday offers up Arizona at the Cubs, the Mets at Philadelphia, Washington at Florida, Houston at Atlanta, Cincinnati at St. Louis, Milwaukee at San Diego, Pittsburgh at the Dodgers, and Colorado at San Francisco. The Rockies will send Aaron Cook (1-2, 5.01 ERA) to the hill, while the Giants will go with Barry Zito (3-0, 1.32 ERA). Righthander Cook broke into the win column in his last trip to the mound, holding the Marlins to one run on five hits over nine innings of work. Lefthander Zito dominated the Cardinals in his last outing, tossing eight shutout innings while giving up three hits and striking out 10.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins begin their second-round NHL playoff series on Friday at home against the Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins knocked out the Senators in six games in the opening round, storming back from a 3-0 deficit to pick up a 4-3 road win in overtime in the clincher. Pascal Dupuis had the winner in that extra frame. The Canadiens bounced the top-seeded Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, winning Game 7 by a 2-1 score on the road on Wednesday. Marc-Andre Bergeron and Dominic Moore had the goals for Montreal in that game, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 41 of 42 shots.
Friday's Wagering Tips
Line off the board
The total for the Diamondbacks-Cubs game is being withheld pending wind speed and direction.
Lines to keep an eye on
Hawks opened as 1-point favorites over the Bucks but that figure has doubled to 2.
Jazz came out as a 3.5-point favorites over the Nuggets but that number has climbed to 4.5. The total fell from 218 to 217.5.
Weather to watch
The forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms at Churchill Downs on Saturday (Mudders' Day comes early in the Kentucky Derby).
The wind for the Diamondbacks-Cubs matinee should be howling out of Wrigley Field to left-center at 22 mph (further proof that left field sucks).
The Nationals-Marlins contest calls for a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms (the forecast for all Marlins' home games through September).
Who's hot
Over is 7-0-1 in Bucks' last eight home games.
Canadiens have won three straight and yielded 7.65 units.
Mets have won seven in a row and nine of their last 10.
Who's not
Nuggets are 1-8-1 ATS in last 10 road games.
Canadiens are 1-5 in last six against Penguins.
Braves have lost nine in a row.
Key stat
38.9 - Lakers' All-Star Kobe Bryant's shooting percentage in the 2010 playoffs, the lowest since his 1997 rookie year of 38.2. Those are the only two postseasons in which he shot less than 40 percent from the field, including percentages of 45.7, 47.9, 46.2 and 49.7 in his last four playoffs.
Injury that shouldn't be overlooked
Denver Nuggets forward Nene is out for Game 6 with a knee injury after getting tangled up with Utah's Carlos Boozer in Game 5. More bad news for the Nuggets, who face elimination and a huge home-court advantage. Nene was averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds in the first four games of the series, but more importantly he gave Denver an inside presence against Boozer.
Game of the day
Lakers at Thunder (-1.5, 194.5)
Notable quotable
"I'm not going to the range today. To hell with it."
-- Tiger Woods said following his opening round of 2-over-par 74 at the Quail Hollow Championship on Thursday.
Tips and notes
With heavy rain in the forecast for the Kentucky Derby it's a good time to look at the mudders in the field. The Wet Tomlinson Rating judges horses' performances in the slop and only two of the 20 entries have WTR scores over 400 - 12-to-1 Noble's Promise (468) and 15-to-1 Super Saver (412), which broke his maiden in his second race by seven lengths on a soupy surface. Coincidentally, 3-to-1 favorite Lookin at Lucky has the third-highest WTR in the field at 392.
Help is on the way for the struggling Phillies' bullpen with word that closer Brad Lidge will rejoin the team in time for this weekend's series against the Mets, who have overtaken Philly for first in the NL East. The Mets have won nine of their last 10 but all came at home. They're a poor road team (2-4 this season and 16-38 in their last 54) while the Phils are home for the first time in 10 games. A hungry home crowd and a healthy Lidge should give Philly a mental lift.
The red-hot Rays took a league-best 16-5 mark into Thursday night's game against the Royals and they love to put up big numbers for tonight's starter Jeff Niemann. Talk about run support, the Rays' offense has produced at least eight runs in each of the right-hander's last three starts. Throw in the fact that Niemann beat the Royals twice last year, giving up just one run over 17 innings, and this could be a Royal beating.