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Two struggling American League teams will hook up this weekend when the Detroit Tigers play against the Seattle Mariners in a three-game series at Safeco Field.
The Mariners, who have the AL’s worst record at 20-34, can only hope for a better showing than they had last week at Detroit.
The Tigers, with the league’s third worst record at 22-31, swept all three games and outscored Seattle by a combined score of 30-14.
So in an attempt to change things around for the Mariners, Manager John McLaren — who recently received a vote of support from team management — will skip left-handed Jarrod Washburn’s turn in the pitching rotation to start three right-handers against Detroit.
That’s because the Tigers are an AL-worst 15-28 against right-handed pitching, and 7-3 against left-handers this season.
Seattle’s Carlos Silva, who has a 3-4 record with a 5.14 earned run average, is expected to start tonight against Detroit left-hander Nate Roberson, who has a 2-5 record and a 5.88 era.
The Detroit Pistons are listed as six-point favorites over the Boston Celtics for tonight’s Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Pistons, who trail, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series and need a victory to keep their season alive, are 7-3 against the point spread in their last 10 games as a home favorite of 3.5 to six points.
Boston will enter the game with a 5-1 record against the point spread in its last six games as a road underdog of 3.5 to six points, and the Celtics are 5-1 against the point spread in their last six games at Detroit.
But Boston is 1-7 against the point spread in its last eight road games overall and 2-8 against the point spread in its last 10 playoff games.
The over/under combined points total for tonight’s game is 176. The under is 4-0 in the Celtics’ last four road games and 4-1 in Detroit’s last five home games.

latimes.com

(Sports Network) - The eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks attempt to pull off one of the biggest upsets in NBA playoff history, as they visit the top-seeded Boston Celtics this afternoon at TD Banknorth Garden in the decisive Game 7 of their first-round series.
The Hawks are trying to become just the second eighth seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in a best-of-seven series. It happened last year when the Golden State Warriors upset the Dallas Mavericks in six games, 4-2, in the first round of the postseason.
Two other eighth-seeded teams defeated a one seed in the first round of the playoffs. Denver eliminated the Seattle SuperSonics, 3-2, in the first round of the 1994 playoffs, while the New York Knicks knocked out the Miami Heat in five, 3-2, during the opening round of the 1999 postseason.
On Friday, Joe Johnson scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, as the Hawks forced a deciding seventh game in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with a dramatic 103-100 victory over the Celtics at Philips Arena.
Marvin Williams had 18 points, but saw limited time in the second half because of a sprained left knee for the Hawks, while Mike Bibby netted 17 in the win. Rookie Al Horford had 16 points, Josh Childress scored 15 and Josh Smith ended with 11 points for Atlanta.
Kevin Garnett finished with 22 points in the loss for the Celtics, who played without standout Paul Pierce in the latter part of the fourth quarter. Pierce fouled out with 4:44 left and totaled 17 points in defeat.
The winner of today's contest will meet the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.
Boston has lost two straight Game 7s. The Celtics are 17-5 all-time and 14-3 at home in Game 7s.
The Celtics lost their last Game 7 at home, as they were crushed by the Indiana Pacers, 97-70, on May 7, 2005 in the final contest of the first-round series.

sportsnetwork.com