Month: March 2014

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Lots of rain in forecast for A’s first two games

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by Amauary Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–There’s a lot of enthusiasm going for this first series at the Coliseum against Cleveland it’s like Christmas for these baseball fans and most teams are opening the season on Monday night, although the sesaon was already open since the Dodgers-Diamondbacks in Australia played last week as the Dodgers took two out of three from the Diamondbacks.

Then the Dodgers played the Padres at Petco for another series opener this time in North America on Sunday Night Baseball. The Dodgers lost to the Padres 3-1, so the Dodgers are 2-0 in Sydney and 0-1 in San Diego. The A’s are going to try and start sometime in these next two days against Cleveland with all this rain.

The Angels here in Anaheim will start Jarrod Weaver against Felix Hernandez for the Seattle on Monday at Angels Stadium. Weather forcast for Tuesday and Wednesday they expect lots of rain in the Southland. In Northern California it rained hard Monday and it’s going to hit the Southland on Tuesday on Wednesday.

Sandy Koufax helped some of the young Dodgers pitchers while coaching this spring: Koufax the former Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher was out there giving tips to some of the Dodgers pitchers and you know in baseball it goes from father to son, it’s a gernerational thing and that is the beauty of baseball.

You can see at any given moment Koufax in Glendale Arizona with Clayton Kernshaw telling him how he threw a curve ball in 1964 and why it was Koufax’s bread and butter pitch that made him a success. Koufax was the best lefty of all time and former Brave Warren Spahn was a great left hander but Koufax was a sensational pitcher.

The same thing you could say what is great about seeing everybody at spring training is the Giants had Willie Mays in camp during spring training helping out the younger players in Scottsdale. I saw Rickey Henderson at the A’s camp at Phoenix Muni last week giving tips and Rickey is a great player and a Hall of Famer and that is the beauty of going to Arizona for spring training.

I work in broadcasting and I’m a fan of the game and I love it and I’ve been watching baseball since I was seven and eight years old back in the old Cuban leagues back in the 1950s. That is the beauty of spring training fans can go down to Arizona and Florida and go and watch these guys from the past.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Los Angeles Angels and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

Cal Bears basketball report: Monty gave Cal his best years announces retirement to team

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Cal coach Mike Montgomery apologized for shoving Allen Crabbe during Sunday's win over USC. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Cal coach Mike Montgomery apologized for shoving Allen Crabbe during Sunday’s win over USC.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–Cal Bears head coach Mike Montgomery announced his retirement to the team on Monday after talking with Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour. Barbour was insistent that he reconsider and stay given what’s going on with the program and with the football program struggling and the basketball team being the bell weather with their successes.

This is something they’ve given a lot of thought to and according to reports as recently as a couple of weeks ago that he was looking towards retirement and this is the way Montgomery is going to go. At age 67 he’s done everything that you could do in coaching and nows the time.

Although Montgomery had bladder cancer he’s comepletely healthy at this point, there weren’t any issues in regards to his health this season and it’s hard to say if the cancer was a part of the reason why he’s retiring. He’s healthy now thank God and if he retires he’ll retire healthy.

Monty could have coached at Cal for as long as he wanted to and in his six year run at Cal he is arguably as impressive as his 18 year run at Stanford. Starting from the first year at Cal he took a team that former Cal coach Ben Braun had a real struggle with and turned them into first year conference champions and obviously Cal hasn’t won a conference championship in years.

Montgomery followed that up with four NCAA appearences, NIT appearences, no losing seasons, he’s got two years left on his contract but I’m sure if he wanted to stay longer he could. This program despertately needs him. They need his energy and his ability to win and draw attention to the university.

He could not be a in a more sucure spot in regards to his situation at Cal, in 32 years coaching at Montana, Stanford, and at Cal he’s compiled a win-loss record of 678-316 and 16 NCAA Tournament appearences. College sports is a constant business as Montgomery retires the university will have to move on.

The University will continue to nationally recruit and also in their own backyard at the local Oakland high school with Ivan Rabb at Bishop O’Dowd a top ranked junior a major national recruit and in order to keep that young man at home their going to need a solid situation and a place that doesn’t include Montgomery and they’re going to want to move forward.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips covered Cal basketball for Sportstalk radio during the 2013-14 season

Despite Rally, Depleted Dubs Downed by Desperate Knicks

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By Matthew Harrington

With Oakland native MC Hammer sitting courtside at Oracle Arena, it was the visiting New York Knicks who brought the hammer down on the shorthanded Golden State Warriors 89-84 Sunday night. New York used a big second quarter to grab the lead before its play down the stretch in holding off a Warriors comeback bid echoed Hammer’s hit “Can’t Touch this”.

Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry continued his strong play against the Knicks, collecting his third 30-plus point performance against the Gothamites in two seasons. Curry went 10-for-21 from the field, including hitting half of his 12 three-point attempts, for 32 points in 40 minutes of play. Andre Iguodala (12) and Klay Thompson (15) also finished in double-digits in scoring, but the absence of David Lee and Andrew Bogut from the frontcourt doomed the Dubs.

Guard J.R. Smith topped the Knicks with 21 points while Carmelo Anthony went 7-of-21 from the field for 19. Amare Stoudemire reeled in a game-high 13 rebounds for the desperate Knicks (31-43) who entered Sunday sitting a game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Warriors (45-28) appeared to have the game in hand after a dominant 32-22 first quarter but the visitors fired back with a dominant second 12 minutes to take the 56- 44 halftime lead. New York stifled its host to only 12 second-quarter points while exploding for 34 of its own.

The Dubs cut the lead by four after the third frame, scoring 22 points to New York’s 18 then continued its run to nearly force a tie early in the quarter at 74-72. The Knicks would add breathing room before a Warriors 6-0 run capped by a Curry trey knotted the game at 81-81 with 2:48 left in regulation. The Knicks held the Warriors to only one basket, a three out of the hands of Thompson, down the stretch while Anthony netted four of New York’s eight points over final three minutes to hang on for the win.

Golden State hopes to have Lee back for Tuesday’s pivotal contest in Dallas with Western Conference playoff implications. The Mavericks currently sit in ninth place, outside the playoffs looking in, and are two games behind the Warriors who sit in sixth place. Bogut is not expected to play Tuesday or Wednesday night as Golden State heads to San Antonio Spurs.

Michelle Richardson on the Final eight commentary: Stanford women move up another bracket beat Penn St 82-57

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by Michelle Richardson

Stanford 82 Penn St 57: The Penn State Lady Lions came into came into this match number three and the Stanford Cardinal came in number two so I expected this match up to go back and forth at Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Also I expected this to be a ground to pound type of a game.

There were a lot of shooters and a lot of bangers underneath in the paint, Penn St came in 24-7 and the Cardinal came in this one 31-3. Stanford were a little bit higher with their game points average and they were undefeated at home and they were playing this one at home at Maples Pavilion.

With the home fans and playing on the home court it was noisy and the Cardinal left little doubt about dominance in this game. Top four scorers for Stanford Chiney Ogwunmike 29, Amber Orrange 18, Mikaela Ruef and Lili Thompson both finished with 11 points.

For Pen State, Ariel Edwards with 22, Dara Taylor 11, and Talia East 10, the Cardinal fans showed up and supported them well as the Cardinal continued their home perfect record and their road record is not so bad at 11-2.

Minnesota head coach Pam Borton was fired last Saturday after the game against South Dakota State 70-62 in the NITs. Borton had been with the program for 12 seasons and for the fifth consecutive year she had missed making the NCAA Tournament.

This game is about wins and loses and Minnesota went 16-9 overall and in non conference play they were successful at 10-3 but in Big Ten play then went 6-6 and missing the Tournament was the deciding factor for Borton.

Borton was grateful for her time at Minnesota who said, “I am grateful for the 12 seasons at the University of Minnesota. This is a great state and university and I have enjoyed becoming a part of this community. I want to thank my players and staff over the years.”

Arizona riots: Arizona University fans made a name for themselves in the post game riots on Saturday night in downtown Tucson after the Wild Cats loss to Wisconsin 64-63 in the West Region in Anaheim. It’s not often you seen any kind of riot crowds after an elimination loss but this one conjured up a wild riot after the Wild Cats were eliminated.

The student body took to the streets in Tucson and decided to start rioting because the Wild Cats were out of the Tournament. Really guys that is one of the the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Anytime something like this happens it’s stupid, it’s just a game. Police showed up in riot gear and there was pepper spray and lot of disbursing.

The Wild Cats had a good run, they got to the Sweet 16, and they lost to a very good team. I get so tired seeing this whole character don’t blame it on the game. The blame goes on the students for being drunk, being stupid, but the students shouldn’t blame it on the fact that the Wild Cats lost a game or the referee made a bad call.

These fans need to blame it on themselves for being young, drunk and stupid. There was a picture of a young man standing by himself and the police were coming and it was like “look at him he’s so chilling” no he’s an idiot. He’s not standing in front of a tank at Tiananmen Square freedom fighting.

He’s a drunk frat boy who doesn’t know what’s going to happen when the cops are about to start shooting bean bags into the crowd.

Michelle Richardson is covering the Final Four next week for Sportstalk radio

Cardinal Keep Dancing, Advance to Regional Final with Win Over Penn State

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Photo Credit: gostanford.com
Photo Credit: gostanford.com

By: Joe Lami

STANFORD, Calif.–The Stanford Cardinal returned to Maples Pavilion, a regional host site for this year’s NCAA Tournament, on Sunday where they took on the Penn State Lady Lions in the regional semi-final.  The Cardinal defeated the Lady Lions by the final score of 82-57.

The first half was neck and neck until about half way through.  The Lady Lions went on a 7-0 run to get ahead of the Cardinal 23-19.  The Cardinal were able to comeback with a 14-0 run of their own spanning a 5:12.  The run would end when Ariel Edwards would hit a pair of free throws.  Stanford would get five more points until the Lady Lions would be able to hit a field goal, as Edwards would nail a jumper with 2:47 remaining in the first half.  Penn State was unable to hit a field goal for 6:48 which gave Stanford a big advantage, as their lead would be 38-27.  The scoring drought would begin again until Edwards would be able to get a bucket and a foul with 13 seconds remaining in the half.  Stanford went into the halftime break with a 44-30 lead.

After much control of the first half, the second half went fairly easy for the Cardinal, as then only surrendered 27 points to cruise to victory.  The final minutes for the Cardinal allowed players that wouldn’t normally see minutes in the NCAA Tournament, as Briana Roberson, Jasmine Camp, Erica Payne and Erica McCall were able to jump in the game.

“Today was an ideal day for Stanford basketball” praised Chiney Ogwumike after the game.

Ogwumike led the way for the Cardinal once again, as she finished with 29 points.  She also added 15 rebounds to get her 25th double double of the season, and ups her career total to 83.  Amber Orrange was second in scoring for Stanford with 18 points.  Lili Thompson and Mikaela Ruef both finished the game with 11 points.  Ruef also added 13 rebounds to achieve the double double.

Edwards led the way for the Lady Lions, as she finished with 22 points.  Dara Taylor and Talia East were the other Penn St. players to get into double figures, contributing 11 and ten respectively.

The major factor in the Stanford win was allowing Maggie Lucas to only score six points.  Lucas, the Big Ten player of the year, was averaging 21.5 points per game coming into the contest.  This was only the second time this season where Lucas was held under ten points.  The last time occurred when the Lady Lions lost to Notre Dame at home on December 4.  Thompson was assigned to defend against Lucas, and she was a major factor.  “She was forced to take tough shots all night” claimed Penn State Head Coach, Coquese Washington.  Thompson later added that the key to shutting Lucas down was to limit her touches.

The Cardinal will continue their run on Tuesday with hopes of advancing to the Final Four, as they will take on North Carolina, who defeated South Carolina 65-58 in the other regional semi-final.

A’s Report: How many more Opening Nights will there be in Oakland?

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics need a champion not a championship (although that would not hurt their cause). The Athletics need an individual who is ready to lay their reputation on the line and pull out all the stops to build a new stadium for the team.

The A’s are the last team in Major League Baseball to be housed in a multipurpose stadium. The 48-year old O.co Coliseum (formerly the Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum) is a hole. The building is old and has no charm since the addition of “Mt. Davis” in center field. The sewage system does not work properly, and the stadium lacks all the amenities of newer facilities. The facility no longer works for the A’s or for the Raiders as a place to play professional sports.

The City of Oakland and Alameda County have a major dilemma on their hands. The Athletics need a new stadium or they will be playing somewhere else. The Raiders want a new facility or they will probably be back in Southern California. The Warriors will ultimately wind up in San Francisco. That means Oakland is on the verge of having no professional teams within its borders.

The Athletics want to move to San Jose. San Jose wants the A’s. A marriage made in heaven except that the San Francisco Giants are doing everything within their power to stop it with their claims of territorial rights. The Giants do not want the Athletics in Silicon Valley. In reality, the Giants do not want the A’s in the Bay Area or Northern California. The Giants would be perfectly happy to be the lone team in the nation’s sixth largest television market.

Major League Baseball led by Commissioner Bud Selig has chosen the Giants as their favorite and has made the Athletics the ugly stepchild. MLB’s view is it’s Oakland or somewhere else in the East Bay or the highway for the A’s. Baseball has backed the Athletics into a corner where the only choices may be for Lew Wolff and his partners to sell or move the team out of Northern California.

Major League Baseball would probably be very happy if the Athletics were to move. New Orleans, Nashville and Charlotte are all in the market for a major league team. After the overwhelming response to an exhibition game in Montreal this weekend, the people of Quebec may be back in the market for a major league team. There are cities that would want the Athletics and would give them what they want – a world class baseball facility.

What will it take for the Athletics to get something done in the East Bay? It may take a new ownership group. Lew Wolff and his partners may just be too fed up to fight for the A’s. Wolff is a major force in Major League Soccer. The Earthquakes have their new stadium in San Jose and are ready to become one of the top draws in the MLS. Wolff was shut out in Fremont and San Jose. It may be time for a new group to take up the fight.

In Sacramento when the Kings were on the brink of having the moving vans whisk them away in the middle of the night, Mayor Kevin Johnson stood up and said no way! Johnson put his entire mayoral legacy on line to keep the Kings in Sacramento. He not only pushed to build a new arena but also helped to put together a new ownership group to run the NBA franchise. Vivek Ranadive and partners have brought a renewed spirit to the Kings and fans believe the franchise is on its way to the next level.

Will Oakland Mayor Jean Quan or Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson be the politician that stands up and leads the way? Will it be another collation between the city and the county? Will leaders in Dublin, Pleasanton or Livermore become the leaders who take on saving the A’s for Northern California? It will take one politician who will stand up and lay it all on the line to save the Athletics and reap the benefits of doing so.

The clock is ticking. There may be opening nights in Oakland next year and the year to follow but make no mistake, time is running out on the A’s, Oakland and Alameda County and the Bay Area.

Tickets in the preseason

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By Jeremy Kahn

After witnessing the postponment of the Spring Training finale between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, I began to think about the fans.

It was announced by A’s Public Address Announcer Dick Callahan that the game was postponed after a delay lasting over an hour, and the fans began to boo and yell obscenities throughout the Coliseum.

According to sources, the A’s sold approximately 33,000 tickets for the game between the Bay Area rivals, in what was the finale of the Spring Training schedule.

The A’s offered the fans of the A’s and the Giants vouchers for a future game, but that is not the point, the fans wanted to see a game.

These people spent their hard earned money to bring themselves, their families and their friends to a game that was not even played and were offered a voucher for a future game?

Okay, I get the point that the two teams did not want their players to get hurt in the finale of the Spring schedule; however you could have lowered the price of the tickets to the game.

These fans paid regular season prices for a practice game, and this is absolutely ridiculous that they pay full price for this.

It is not just in Major League Baseball, but also in the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

I for one, have attended games in the preseason as a fan and was appalled that the teams charge full price for tickets to a glorified practice game that I could have watched from the luxury of my own apartment for free.

The teams across the four major sports make millions, if not billions of dollars from the fans and they spend all this money.

To me, the teams should not charge a regular season price for an exhibition game that you see the regulars play a few innings, a few series in football and/or little in a NBA or NHL game.

A’s battle sewage, weather–not the Giants–in spring finale

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s tried to control their story with final roster moves on Saturday, but the weather and the plumbing at the Coliseum had other ideas.

The third installment of the Bay Bridge Series was rained out—after two hours of uncertainty—when very little suggested that the game could be played. Water cascaded through the outfield turf anytime a groundskeeper ran a rake through and that just meant the wet stuff just ended up somewhere closer to the outfield fence.

And the purpose of the infield tarp? It keeps the infield dry… and as soon as you try to move it the water on top ends up somewhere else on the field, usually in a ring around the shallow part of the outfield.

So with healthy players needing to stay healthy, the game was called. The A’s open the regular season on Monday night with Sonny Gray on the mound, and that kicks off a stretch of seven home games in seven days to start the season. So with all that on the A’s plate, it was a no brainer that they not play on Saturday in such unstable conditions.

Plus, the team had its old sewage problems crop up again in the coaches’ dressing room showers. About an hour before the scheduled first pitch, crews were attempting to keep sewage from backing up. In terms of Coliseum sewage outbreaks, this one was mild, but well-timed.

The A’s announced roster moves during the delay with Daric Barton, Drew Pomeranz and Sam Fuld grabbing opening day roster spots. Barton’s been back and forth so many times, but he’s poised to stick this time as a defensive-leaning first basemen with a knack for getting on base… just as he used to do for the A’s back in 2010, 2011.   Barton hit .273 and drew 12 walks this spring.

Pomeranz struck out 20 batters this spring, and with Ryan Cook on the mend, he’ll begin the season in the A’s bullpen.   Cook should return within a week, so Pomeranz should eventually end up in Sacramento where the A’s envision him developing the stamina to start games at some point.

Fuld, the Stanford product, is well-known for his incredible diving catch at Chicago’s Comiskey Park as a Tampa Bay Ray a few years back. His versatility—he can play all three outfield spots—made him a keeper after a solid spring.

Outfielder Michael Taylor was designated for assignment, and Stephen Vogt, despite a solid spring, will start the season in Sacramento.   Eric Berger, a minor league pitching prospect, was acquired from the Astros.

SaberCats Come Close But Fall To Power 48-47

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Photo Courtesy SJ Sabercats
Photo Courtesy SJ Sabercats

By Kahlil Najar and Emily Zahner

PITTSBURGH –The San Jose SaberCats (2-1) were unable to complete a two point conversion with under three seconds left in the game to lose a tight game 48-47 to the Pittsburgh Power (1-1). Outstanding rookie quarterback Nathan Stanley was able to pull the Cats within the last minute of play as he was able to connect on two touchdowns to Reggie Gray who continued to prove that he deserves the nickname Big Play.

The SaberCats played catch up the entire game. The Power started off with three straight touchdowns from Power QB Tommy Grady which included two passing touchdowns to Prechae Rodriguez and a rushing touchdown of his own to give the power a 21-0 lead after one quarter of play. The Cats were able to get on the board in the second quarter on a five yard pass from Stanley to Huey Whittaker to give the Cats their first points of the game but the Grady found Rodriguez again for two more scores to give Rodriguez four touchdowns in the first half and make it a 35-7 lead for the power. Before the half ended JJ Payne contributed a rushing touchdown and David Hyland made a recovery off the net on the kickoff and dove three yards into the end zone for a touchdown which brought the score to 35-20 at the half.

In the second half, the Cats and Power traded a pair of touchdowns and after the Powers last score Stanley moved the offense down the field where he found Gray from eight yards out in the end zone and brought the game to a seven point deficit. Then on an onside kickoff attempt Marc Scheichl recovered the ball for San Jose and gave the Cats the ball back with 45 seconds left on the clock. Stanley brought the team down again and found Gray for an amazing one-handed over-the-wall touchdown with three seconds left in the game. After the touchdown, the Cats decided to go for the win instead of playing for overtime and Stanley was unable to connect with Willis and brought the score to the final of 48-47.

Stanley had a good game overall as he threw for 260 yards and five touchdowns however his three interceptions proved extremely costly in his first loss of his professional career. Reggie Gray continued to show his magic on the field and he contributed two touchdowns and 126 yards receiving. Huey Whittaker only had 19 yards receiving however those yards netted him three touchdowns on the night.

The SaberCats head home for a game this coming Friday against the Spokane Shock at the SAP Center at 7:30pm PST.

 

 

Sharks Come up Short in Mile High City

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By: Phillip Torres

COLORADO-The San Jose Sharks 47-20-9) were hosted by the Colorado Avalanche (47-21-6) on Saturday at in Colorado. The Avalanche came away with an impressive 3-2 victory to earn a playoff birth against a possible opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov recorded a season high 47 saves on the night to preserve the one goal victory.

Colorado never trailed in the game as they got the scoring started off early in the first period. Paul Stastny knocked in a wrist shot at 1:33 in the opening period. His wrist shot that found the net passed Antti Niemi was assisted by Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.

The Sharks tied the game back up at 1-1 less than two minutes later with a goal from Joe Pavelski. The score was Pavelski’s 38th goal on the season, and it came via a backhand shot, assisted by Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Although San Jose answered back fast, the tie did not remain for long. Cody McLeod put the Avalanche back on top before the first intermission with a wrist shot at 10:34.

With the score 2-1 Colorado heading into the second period, Colorado put the game away with the eventual winning goal at 6:32 in the middle period. John Mitchell made it a 3-1 game with a wrist shot on a power play goal. The goal was assisted by Jamie McGinn and Erik Johnson.

Dan Boyle made it a 3-2 game later in the period but that goal capped the scoring on the night for both teams. The third period was a defensive showing by both opponents, especially Colorado who was great on the penalty kill all night. The Sharks had their fair share of opportunities in the final period to send the game to overtime, but it came to no avail.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Tuesday April 1st as they will be back at the SAP Center in San Jose. The Sharks will host the Edmonton Oilers and the puck will drop at 7:30 pm.