OC Register: TV Best Bets: LA Dodgers, Angels open the 2019 MLB season

[AngelsWin.com]

MLB, OPENING DAYThursday, March 28Baltimore at N.Y. Yankees, 10 a.m., ESPNArizona at L.A. Dodgers, 1 p.m., SNLA/ESPNBoston at Seattle, 4 p.m., ESPNL.A. Angels at Oakland, 1 p.m., FSW

Nothing in baseball resonates more than opening day, because everyone is tied for first place (except the A’s, who are already 2-0 after games in Japan). It resonates only to the end of the day, because after all there’s 161 more games left and no one will remember opening day unless they kept their ticket stub.

The honorarium of being the opening day pitcher is still sacrosanct, too, which is why Dodger fans shed a tear about Clayton Kershaw not getting the start because of an undetermined injury to his shoulder, the nature of which is being guarded like a Brinks Truck. Is it going to fall off? And then another when Walker Buehler was scratched, and a third when Rich Hill’s knee came up gimpy. Anyone left? Will Enrique Hernandez get the start against the D-Backs by default?

The Angels, meanwhile, have a freshly signed contract with Mike Trout, which guarantees some interest for a team that again looks like it will hover around .500 since it has yet to overcome its need for constant triage of their pitching rotation, which is never, ever healthy or working at even 75 percent. Put it like this: Matt Harvey has spent the last three seasons with injuries to the degree that the Mets gave him away, and he might be the healthiest pitcher in the rotation.

The Dodgers and Angels have intramurals Monday and Tuesday (7 p.m., SNLA, FSW) in the final exhibitions before opening day on Thursday.

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The Dodgers, of course, continue to punish their TV-watching fans with the limited distribution of SportsNet LA (SNLA), which is not available on DirecTV or 70 percent of the cable networks in town. Fans in that situation will have to wait for a national ESPN or Fox/FS1 telecast to see the boys, or the handful of games that will air on KTLA (Channel 5) as a churlish concession to the viewing homeless. Four KTLA telecasts are slated for April 2, 12, 18 and 24.

The upside of that means not having to listen to the vocal styling of play-by-play man Joe Davis, who should just enter The Voice and get four unturned chairs for confirmation that no one likes his tenor sing-song style – he sings “here’s the three-and-two pitch” like he’s auditioning for Nessun Dorma. Then there’s Orel Hershiser, a great guy and Dodger great who has taken the franchise’s edict of homer-ish commentary way too literal. Some days Nomar Garciaparra fills in, and he’s one guy who refuses to pander.

The radio team (KLAC 570 am) returns Charley Steiner, Rick Monday and newby Tim Neverette, who at least seem to be having fun.

The Angel teams return unchanged – Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza on TV (FSW) and Terry Smith, Jose Mota and Mark Langston on radio (KLAA 830 a.m.). All Angels games are on FSW except those that are farmed out to KCOP (Ch. 13) because of conflicts with Clipper playoff telecasts. You heard right. No Lakers, no Kings, no Ducks, just the Clippers!

BEST OF THE RESTNCAA TournamentMarch 28-30

The prelims are over. We’re down to the Sweet 16, which means Zion and Michigan State and North Carolina and a few mid-majors that extended their run beyond their freshness date. Gonzaga!

CBS and TBS share the lot of Sweet 16 (Thursday-Friday) and Elite 8 games (Saturday-Sunday) this weekend. The South and West regionals are on Thursday and Saturday, the Midwest and East on Friday and Sunday. The two networks will divvy up the broadcast assignments this week after the final games of round two Sunday are done.The West regional will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, while the South is in Louisville, East in Washington, D.C. – hey, is that Robert Mueller sitting with Don Trump Jr. courtside? – and Midwest in Kansas City. If the beauty of the first two rounds is non-stop game action, the nirvana of the rest of the tourney is full game telecasts interrupted only by Geico commercials.

NBAMarch 26-27

Because the NBA schedules all regular season games before the season begins, the networks will be providing a camera on the further decimation of the Lakers reputation by airing their games against Washington Tuesday (TNT, 7:30 p.m.) and Utah Wednesday (ESPN, 7 p.m.). Tune in to see if LeBron James is missing the game so he can work on his new reality TV show.

MLS SoccerMarch 30-31

The Galaxy is at Portland Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN2) and the LAFC hosts San Jose Sunday (5 p.m., Univision). The UEFA Champions League playoffs resume April 9, and the Premier League has a full slate of streaming games Saturday and Sunday.

WGC Match Play, Austin Country ClubMarch 27-31

Zealous golf fans love match play. The common fan can get behind seeing the top 64 players in a five-day spree of head-to-head duels until it gets to the end when you better be happy watching two guys slug it out for 18 holes, or less.The Golf Channel has coverage the first four days (Wednesday-to-Friday 11 a.m., Saturday 8 and 11 a.m.) before NBC moves in for the gravy on Sunday 1 p.m. Recent players champ Rory McIlroy, defending champ Dustin Johnson, and Tiger Woods, making his first appearance in the event since 2013, are among the field of great current players.

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[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

Correction the A's are 0-2, Mariners are 2.0...