Games This Season

Bulls: Michael Jordan has scored 30 or more points in 31 games this season, including his past five.

WBAL-TV says it has gained the rights to simulcast two Baltimore Ravens "Monday Night Football" games this year with ESPN, the cable channel that produces the prime-time telecasts. The deal the station is scheduled to announce Wednesday is for three years, according to the Hearst-owned station, and will make WBAL the Baltimore partner for all ESPN "Monday Night Football" games involving the Ravens during that time. One of the Monday night games is Aug. 22, a preseason contest against the Carolina Panthers, while the other is Dec. 16, a regular-season matchup with the Detroit Lions at a key time in the season.

Hornets@Celtics 8 p.m. [ESPN] Boston has been playing at such a high level, winning about 90 percent of its games this season. New Orleans' Chris Paul (right) always plays at a high level. He's averaging about 20 points and 12 assists.

Dropping a 9-8 decision to Capital Athletic Conference foe York cost St. Mary's the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament. But that may not be such a bad thing. Wednesday's first-round game against Wesley at Seahawk Stadium in St. Mary's City gives the team an opportunity to erase the memory of that setback to the Spartans, who leapfrogged over the Seahawks for the No. 2 seed and the bye. And the team gets to play one more game in a familiar setting. “We're home, which is great,” coach Chris Hasbrouck said Tuesday.

Braves: Tom Glavine has pitched consecutive shutouts for the first time since April 27 and May 2, 1992. He has three complete games this season.Giants: Barry Bonds has withdrawn his appeal of a three-game suspension for charging the mound and instigating a bench-clearing melee in the Aug. 2 game against Philadelphia. Bonds will begin serving his suspension today.Pirates: Jason Kendall has seven hits in his last 12 at-bats, including three homers.Reds: Have scored 36 runs in Pete Harnisch's last three starts, but he's 1-1 with a no-decision.

The Baltimore Blast and Channel 45 are near an agreement under which the station will televise six regular-season Major Soccer League games this season.Bruce Lumpkin, general manager for WBFF-TV, said yesterday: "We have the basis of an agreement. I presented it to the owners today [yesterday], and on Monday I'll have an answer. I feel that answer will be yes. I have no problems with it, and the Blast has no problems."Lumpkin said the first game on the schedule is set for Dec. 26, when the Blast will play the Kansas City Comets in Kansas City, Mo.Blast general manager John Borozzi said yesterday that Art Sinclair would do the play-by-play.

Quote: "If they win, I'll have to come back and do the magic little pep talk again."-- Magician Jeff Scanlan after entertaining the Cubs during the rain delay yesterday.It's a fact: The Brewers play 28 of their first 43 games on the road and have just 28 away games after the All-Star break.Who's hot: After a 1-5 start on the road, the Diamondbacks went 8-2 in a homestand against Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia, including four straight wins heading into their longest road trip of the season.

BayRunners today Opponent: Las Vegas Silver Bandits Site: Baltimore Arena Time: 3 p.m. Outlook: The Silver Bandits are coming off a win at St. Louis after losing their two previous games at home. Las Vegas has had only three home games this season and is now on a seven-game road trip. Two of the BayRunners' four wins have come against Las Vegas. Silver Bandits F Rocky Walls leads the league in rebounding, averaging 11.8 a game. Forward J. R. Henderson is averaging 23.9 points a game, second in the league.

Johns Hopkins has dominated this series, winning 53 of 82 contests and the last two. No. 13 Virginia (5-3) has dropped three of its last four games, but the offense ranks sixth in Division I in scoring with a 12.9 average. The Cavaliers have unearthed a quarterback in junior attackman Nick O'Reilly, who leads the team in assists (16) and points (30) after redshirting last season. The No. 12 Blue Jays are 5-2, but they are 0-2 against ranked opponents. Johns Hopkins boasts an offense tied for fourth in scoring and is getting plenty of possessions via senior faceoff specialist Mike Poppleton, who has won 71.1 percent (96-of-135)

Maryland owns a 39-22 advantage in this series with its Atlantic Coast Conference rival, but North Carolina has won four of the last six meetings. The No. 10 Tar Heels are 4-3 this spring but have followed every win with a loss. They dusted Dartmouth, 13-5, on Monday as senior attackman Marcus Holman (Gilman) registered four goals (including the 100th of his career) and one assist. The top-ranked Terps, who are the only undefeated team left in Division I, are seeking their first 7-0 start since 2004.

Junior attackman Sam Jones chuckled when asked what was plaguing Navy's offense. Unfortunately, the unit's woes are no laughing matter. The Midshipmen have scored seven or fewer goals in three of their last four games, and each of those contests has ended in a loss. In fact, the team is 0-5 when managing fewer than 10 goals in a game this season. “There's a lot of things,” Jones said, referring to the initial question. “At the end of the day, we don't make the smart plays that we need to. It's on us. We don't do what we need to do. We turn the ball over too much or we don't get the ball where it needs to be, we haven't been shooting well.

SANTA CLARA -- So which Vernon Davis will we see in Super Bowl XLVII? Will it be the man who made just six catches for 61 yards over the final six regular-season games? Or the guy who in two postseason games has caught six balls for 150 yards and a touchdown while being targeted 11 times? It's probably a better question for the Baltimore Ravens and how they choose to defend the 49ers' dangerous tight end, but to date, they haven't been forthcoming with answers. In NFC Championship game, though, the Atlanta Falcons clearly didn't make Davis a major focal point of their pass defense and paid dearly as a result.

When Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning goes under center Sunday, starts barking out calls and then takes one final glance across the line of scrimmage, what he sees will bear very little resemblance to any Ravens defense he has ever faced. For the past decade as a member of the Indianapolis Colts, Manning took apart some of the Ravens' most dominant defenses. Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, Manning and his 10-3 Broncos will oppose one of the Ravens' most vulnerable ones. Injuries have forced the Ravens to rely on standout special teams players as defensive starters, thrust normally little-used players into big roles and given guys who were either at home or on the practice squad just weeks ago opportunities to aid in the playoff push.

He has thrown his hands up in the air after a dropped pass, angrily ripped off his helmet after a stalled possession and loudly chastised himself after an errant throw. Joe Flacco's body language has been studied and scrutinized since the day he became the Ravens' franchise quarterback in 2008. Rarely, if ever, has the stoic signal caller, billed as "Joe Cool," shown as many outward signs of exasperation as he has displayed the past three weeks. "I am frustrated a little bit. Yeah, I could probably do a better job of not showing that, but I just feel like we're so close to being able to be a good offense," Flacco said.

The Ravens may not have an explanation, but they have certainly ruled some things out. Weather? The Ravens played on beautiful afternoons in Philadelphia, Kansas City and Houston. Playing field? All three games were on grass, the same surface the Ravens practice on. Travel plans? The Ravens essentially have stuck to the same schedule that they used from 2008 to 2010, when they won four road playoff games under coach John Harbaugh. "We've looked at it all," Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said.

For the first time since the beginning of last season, tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson finished a game with a combined zero catches in last Thursday's 23-16 win against the Cleveland Browns. Chances are that scenario won't play out again Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, who have surrendered a touchdown to tight ends in three of four games this season. Tony Gonzalez caught five passes for 53 yards and one score in the Atlanta Falcons' 40-24 rout, Scott Chandler grabbed two balls for 53 yards and a touchdown in the Buffalo Bills' 35-17 demolition, and Jimmy Graham finished with four receptions for 16 yards and a score in the New Orleans Saints' 27-24 overtime loss.