Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

ALCS notebook

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 19, 2001

Sunday schedule tight

SEATTLE -- Game 4 of the Seattle-New York series will start at 7:50 Sunday night. So will Game 5 of the Arizona-Atlanta NL series.

Because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced a one-week delay in the postseason schedule, baseball's semifinals have been squeezed into one time slot because of NFL coverage.

Fox will show both games, but one (depending on where you live) will be over the air and the other on the Fox Sports Net cable outlet.

That means fans without cable won't see one of the games, and fans with cable who want to see both must switch between the two.

Originally, Game 2 of the World Series was scheduled to be shown Sunday night so it didn't matter that it was Fox's week for an NFL doubleheader. Under the revised schedule, Fox would have had to either negotiate a trade with CBS (which had no reason to make such a deal) or show one of the baseball games on cable during the afternoon and compete against its own football broadcast.

Baseball officials can't be too happy with the decision to start both at the same time -- especially since one or both of the games could be decisive -- but they aren't complaining publicly.

"In light of everything that happened, we pretty much understand," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said. "Is it ideal? No. But under the circumstances ... "

NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUE: Safeco Field has been roaring, but Seattle skipper Lou Piniella, who played and managed in New York, said Yankee Stadium still is louder in the postseason. "There's 8,000 more people there," Piniella said. "And there's a few more bars in the neighborhood."

DAY OF REST?: The teams left for New York after the game, hoping to get to bed by about 7 a.m. There won't be formal workouts at Yankee Stadium today, though some players will opt to hit or jog, and there won't be much turnaround time since the players will be at the ballpark about 1 p.m. Saturday for the 4:20 p.m. start of Game 3.

CHANGES COMING: The Mariners are likely to load their lineup with left-handed hitters for Saturday's game against Orlando Hernandez. Piniella is considering combinations that include catcher Tom Lampkin, outfielder Al Martin, shortstop Carlos Guillen and infielder/outfielder Mark McLemore. "We'll see what we do," Piniella said. "I don't know. We've got to get the Ouija board out."

BITS: Joe Torre has managed more ALCS games (24) -- and won more (17) -- than anyone. ... Safeco Field is the second stadium to host the All-Star Game and the ALCS opener in the same season; the other was Yankee Stadium in 1977. ... This is the fourth time the same teams have met in the ALCS in consecutive seasons. ... David Justice on Wednesday extended his career LCS record for RBI to 24.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright