ESPN’s Week in Baseball

Following are highlights from this week’s Major League Baseball coverage on ESPN:

Ryan Howard Steals Sunday Night Baseball Spotlight
During ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast (Aug. 16), Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard hit a home run to put the Phillies ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Then, after “meditating” in the dugout, Howard hit his second blast of the game in the sixth inning – his fourth homer in four games and 30th of the season – to give the Phillies a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

This week’s Sunday Night Baseball (Aug. 23) telecast will feature the Boston Red Sox hosting the New York Yankees at 8 p.m. Jon Miller calls Sunday Night games with analysts Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips. Baseball Tonight, with host Steve Berthiaume, analysts John Kruk, Peter Gammons and Dave Winfield, will originate live from Fenway at 7 p.m.

Olney, Phillips and Hershiser Discuss N.L. Cy Young Picture
On a night Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson tossed a one-hitter through seven-plus innings, Baseball Tonight analyst Buster Olney said Johnson stacks up with San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain as the potential Cy Young winner this season.

Analysts Steve Phillips and Orel Hershiser also discussed the N.L. Cy Young race on Monday Night Baseball (Aug. 17):

Phillips, on the N.L. Cy Young Frontrunners – “You have to look at Tim Lincecum as the guy. You look at strikeout numbers he’s logging right now, he’s blowing everybody away. Chris Carpenter’s numbers are fantastic. His strikeout numbers are down a little bit because he missed a month of the season with the oblique strain. Matt Cain is something else. He’s probably going to get his votes canceled out by the fact his teammate Tim Lincecum is putting up such a big year.”

Hershiser, on N.L. Cy Young Contenders – “Josh Johnson is dominating down there with Florida. I don’t know if Adam Wainwright should be a contender; he might need to be in that front pack, the way things are going. Dan Haren, of course, we don’t hear much about him in Arizona. They haven’t been on top of the pack, but he’s having an outstanding year. Jason Marquis, in Colorado…Jim Tracy turned that whole organization around.”

Showalter Reveals Angels’ Hidden Gems
Buck Showalter offered his analysis on one of the keys to the Los Angeles Angels success – the dynamic duo of Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar.

Worst Throws of the Year “Highlighted”
Karl Ravech and John Kruk had some fun in reflecting on some of the worst throws of the 2009 season.

Gammons Discusses Smoltz’s Future and Cubs Playoff Hopes
Baseball Tonight analyst Peter Gammons shared his perspective on the performance of John Smoltz this season and his potential landing spot, since being waived by the Boston Red Sox. Gammons also discussed the chances of the Chicago Cubs making a postseason run.

Showalter Lists Top One-Two Punches Among N.L. Rotations
Buck Showalter ranked the top one-two punches among N.L. starting rotations: 1) San Francisco Giants (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain); 2) St. Louis Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright), 3) Philadelphia Phillies (Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels), 4) Los Angeles Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley), 5) Florida Marlins (Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco).

ESPN’s 20th Year All-Star Team Voting Continues
ESPN continues to celebrate 20 seasons of MLB coverage with fan voting determining a 20th year All-Star Team. ESPN viewers have voted throughout the first half of the season to narrow the list of 10 candidates per position down to three finalists in each category. This week, the fan vote will determine their favorite third basemen over the past 20 years. The winner – Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones or Alex Rodriguez – will be announced during Sunday Night Baseball August 23. Last week, fans voted for Ryne Sandberg as second baseman over Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio. Next week’s vote will determine the favorite shortstop over the previous 20 seasons.