Daily Sports: McCarthy Comes Back For Arizona On Sunday

Dan Flaherty Uncategorized

Help is on the way for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a national TV audience will get the first look at it on Sunday afternoon. Brandon McCarthy returns from the disabled list to help a starting pitching rotation that’s been struggling. The D-Backs play the final game of a weekend series in Boston and McCarthy’s return will televised by TBS at 1:35 PM ET.

D-Backs-BoSox is the top game on Sunday’s daily sports agenda. The ESPN Sunday Night Game is a disappointment, with Atlanta-Philadelphia at 8 PM ET. The Phils have joined the Washington Nationals in completely collapsing in the NL East, and the Braves can spend the final eight weeks drinking champagne every day.

If you still want baseball on Sunday night, MLB Network will show the Kevin Costner movie For Love Of The Game, about how an aging Detroit Tigers’ pitcher throws a perfect game in Yankee Stadium and wins back the love of his life, all in one fell swoop. Kind of a cheesy plot line, but I enjoyed the movie. Then again, anything that involves the demise of the Yankees I usually enjoy.

NASCAR action is in the afternoon, at 1 PM ET on ESPN. TheSportsNotebook previewed the race from Pocono yesterday, as well as taking a look at the overall postseason landscape.

And I’ve deliberately put this final item last. I know most TV reviews of the day will lead with the fact the NFL preseason begins on Sunday night, when the Dallas Cowboys play the Miami Dolphins in the Hall of Fame Game (8 PM ET, NBC).

I’m looking forward to football season, but not at the expense of playoff race baseball, and certainly not for a glorified practice. However, after watching Pardon The Interruption on Friday, I thought co-host Tony Kornheiser did bring up a good reason to at least check in at the beginning. We’ve got to see how the new rookie looks the first time on the field—as in how Carrie Underwood handles replacing Faith Hill on NBC’s opening music. That’s the only thing I would see on Sunday night that will impact how I think about football come fall.