Dave Burns made the smooth transition from a D-Backs 8-2 win in San Francisco to an extended edition of The 620 Sportsline. Another shaky, albeit non-save, outing for Brandon Lyon, but don’t feel too bad, Jose Valverde gave up four runs to the Phillies a little later in the show.

Burnsy does feel bad for quite a few folks in light of the recent NFL regular season schedule. First and foremost are the NFL fans, subjected to another MNF matchup between the Cardinals and Niners. Did they see the last one? Paul Calvisi and Ron Wolfley certainly did, and now they’ve got another quick turnaround following the Cards primetime Thanksgiving matchup in Philly. Well, maybe not Wolf - we don’t work the Friday after Turkey Day, right? I think I did this year, but I sense a cell malfunction this time. Anyway, the Cards do have several interesting stops this year, including a late December showdown in Foxboro.

Speaking of showdowns, how about Suns at Spurs in the first round? It’s one of 32 playoff scenarios that Suns beat writer Paul Coro broke down with Burnsy. And before the Clippers played like the Clippers, there was actually the possibility of one with New Orleans. (Yeah, I didn’t know that either).

Either way, the Suns are gearing for another deep postseason run, perhaps the last of the Nash era. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni joined Burnsy on the last of the TTC pre-playoff editions and of course the postseason was first and foremost on coach’s mind. Contrary to popular belief, though, the potential first round opponents for the Suns aren’t weighing so much on coach’s mind, as he’s seen them all before:

“I’ve probably watched each one of those teams play 20 times, you watch them every night, hoping they lose.”

As for whether the Suns are better equipped to win in the playoffs, D’Antoni certainly believes so: “(With Shaq) Steve doesn’t have to make every play. We now have the ability to get rebounds and to shut off second chance points.”

D’Antoni says all those factors make it easier on the Suns, as before they had to play “perfect basketball” throughout the playoffs. Although Shaq does make life easier, coach was quick to point out that he’s not perfect: “He isn’t really Superman, I don’t know if everybody knows that. There (are) a lot of expectations and (Shaq) puts a lot of them on himself when he holds up his ring finger.” Speaking of expectations, as if there was any question, coach reinforced the unspoken theme of the 2007-08 season (my words) “NBA championship or bust.”

“We’ve been three or four years and we’ve had success in the regular season, and I think some of the attention has been of the regular season and (we’ve) been gearing up for the postseason.”

And last but not least, since we can’t help but revel in the fact that Calvisi will be enduring subzero temps on December 31, and subpar humans in Oak-town for a pre-season matchup with the Raiders, Burnsy spoke with Paulie Pigskin about the Cardinals new schedule. No surprise, Paulie isn’t too happy about it either. He’s also none-too-pleased about spending Thanksgiving evening with a drumstick and a microphone.

Burnsy’s also predicting that Calvisi and Wolf’s spouses will be none-too-pleased about that, and could see a divorce or two by seasons end. That’s mean.