ESPN's First MLB Pitch: Phillies-Braves
April 5 Contest Is First Of Net's 80 Live Telecasts In 2009
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 1/27/2009 12:39:05 PM EST
ESPN will throw the first pitch of its 19th Sunday Night Baseball season with an April 5 matchup between World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves.
The network Monday announced its April and May regular-season Sunday night baseball lineup, which includes: St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs (April 5); New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox (April 26); Boston-Tampa Bay Rays (May 10); and the New York Mets-San Francisco Giants (May 17).
The June and July schedules will be selected three weeks in advance, while games for August and September will be picked two weeks out, according to the network.
Along with live coverage on ESPN, all Sunday Night Baseball telecasts will be available in high-definition on ESPN HD and via ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV, according to network officials.
Overall, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise 80 regular-season MLB games in 2009, plus 23 games from the second World Baseball Classic, beginning March 5.
ESPN will also debut a new announcing booth as former New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips joins longtime the Sunday Night Baseball team of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan.
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