Baseball’s pennant races and a Big East matchup on the gridiron highlight the Friday night schedule, with some WNBA playoffs as well. Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup.
The Gridiron Spotlight
Connecticut has done nothing but win so far this season, rolling past Hofstra, Temple, Virginia, and Baylor to a 4-0 record. That doesn’t mean the Huskies have been profitable, however, as they’re just 1-2 ATS in games that have received lines. Louisville lost their opener 27-2 to Kentucky, then knocked off Tennessee Tech and Kansas State to get to 2-1 on the season. The Cardinals are 1-1 against-the-spread in those games.
The Huskies have the 4-0 record, but the oddsmakers are going with Louisville at home in this game. The Cardinals are listed as 3.5-point favorites, with the total at 50 points.
Other Notable Events
The Brewers will be looking to get a win out of Jeff Suppan (10-10, 5.06 ERA) when they host the Cubs and Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.99 ERA) on Friday night. The Mets, Milwaukee’s NL Wild Card rival, is expected to go with Mike Pelfrey (13-10, 3.70 ERA) in their home game against the Marlins and Chris Volstad (5-4, 3.10 ERA) on Friday.
Francisco Liriano (6-3, 3.39 ERA) will start for the Twins on Friday as they try to keep pace in the race for top spot in the AL Central; his opponent will be the Royals and Kyle Davies (8-7, 4.21 ERA). The White Sox are set to go with John Danks (11-8, 3.20 ERA) in their Friday night matchup against the Indians and Scott Lewis (3-0, 1.42 ERA).
As well, golf’s THE TOUR Championship will continue at East Lake in Atlanta on Friday.
The Rest of the Schedule
The Red Sox will host the Yankees at Fenway Park on Friday, while Tampa Bay will be in Detroit, and the Angels will get a visit from Texas. The rest of the American League schedule: Toronto at Baltimore, and Oakland at Seattle.
Philadelphia is hoping the Mets continue to hit the skids this weekend as they try to lock down the NL East title; the Phillies host Washington on Friday. Making up the rest of the National League schedule: Atlanta at Houston, Cincinnati at St. Louis, Colorado at Arizona, Pittsburgh at San Diego, and the playoff-bound Dodgers at San Francisco.
In the WNBA the Eastern Conference Finals get underway on Friday night, with Detroit at New York. The Liberty opened as 1.5-point favorites to win Game 1, but the Shock opened as -250 favorites to win the three-game series (which continues on Sunday).
And finally, there’s one game on the Canadian Football League’s schedule for Friday, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers get a visit from the Edmonton Eskimos. The oddsmakers have the Bombers as 1.5-point favorites, with the total at 54 points.
News from the Wire
The Brewers would like to use Ben Sheets to start a game at some point over the weekend, but his sore elbow makes him questionable . . . Key Eagles offensive players Donovan McNabb (chest) and Brian Westbrook (ankle) may both come down to game-time decisions this weekend . . . Steelers running back Willie Parker (knee) is now expected to miss two games . . . Derek Anderson will remain the Browns’ starting QB.
A Peek at the Future
Early games on Saturday involving ranked college football teams include Minnesota at No. 14 Ohio State, Mississippi at No. 4 Florida, Arkansas at No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Wisconsin at Michigan, and Tennessee at No. 15 Auburn . . . the top matchups, though, are going to take place on Saturday night, with No. 24 TCU at No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 8 Alabama at No. 3 Georgia, and then finally No. 22 Illinois at No. 12 Penn State.
