Month: May 2014

Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi’s goal a beauty

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By Pearl Allison Lo

It was another close match between the San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas Saturday, but Pierazzi’s goal was the difference in another 2-1 game between the two Saturday.

In the 45th minute, Pierazzi took a pass from Khari Stephenson, touched the ball innocently it seemed at first, then kicked it past two defenders almost straightaway as it curved away from goalie Chris Seitz into the net from 35 yards out. It was Pierazzi’s first goal with the team and the team’s first road win of the season.

FC Dallas’s Blas Perez scored first in the 16th minute, as the ball bounced over Ty Harden and Jordan Stewart. Fabian Castillo then chased the ball down to kick it back the way it came, directly to Perez as Perez collided with Harden.

Adam Moffat received a yellow card for pulling the Quakes’ Yannick Djalo in the 23rd minute when Djalo had the ball.

Off a corner to San Jose’s Steven Lenhart who received it on his chest after a bounce, who then kicked it to Atiba Harris, Harris scored past a diving Seitz to equalize the score in the 27th minute. It was Harris’s second goal in as many games.

Things became more interesting when Moffat received his second yellow in the 38th minute, which would leave his team down in the second half this time. Moffat tackled Djalo who had the ball, causing Djalo to tumble and roll. Harris gave Moffat a good game handshake and patted his head. Moffat then turned the other way heading towards the referee, but Harris ran back to take him off the field.

With one minute stoppage time in the first half, Pierazzi’s goal was followed by a penalty kick on the other end after an inadvertent collision between Stewart and Castillo, as Castillo headed towards the goal.

Quakes’ goalie Jon Busch predicted Castillo’s second chance at net correctly, to preserve the lead and the game as he made his first penalty save out of three attempts now this year.

In the 74th minute, Djalo pulled up either due to a cramp or his hamstring, but had to stay in because coach Mark Watson had already made three substitutions. Thus, with limited play and the way FC Dallas played in the second half, one could argue that there was no man missing from the game.

In the 90th minute, the wall saved a free kick by FC Dallas’s Ryan Hollingshead right outside the penalty area.

Game notes: San Jose is now even in May play with a record of 33-33-18. They next play Toronto at 1pm June 7th for their only away game of the month.

 

The Best in the West To Finish Sunday

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By Mary Walsh

As the NHL Scouting Combine is under way, and draft rankings and reviews are cropping up all over Twitter and hockey sites, it is hard to focus entirely on playoff games that don’t involve the local team. Still, the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks have done their darndest to keep us entertained with a pretty good Western Conference Final.

It has already been called one of the best series, certainly in these playoffs, maybe one of the best ever. Los Angeles and Chicago are still slugging it out, so to speak, neither heavyweight willing to concede. That will end Sunday in Game Seven. What impresses most about these games is the speed that they are playing at. Even in double overtime, they seem to play faster instead of slowing down like any reasonable person would expect. But how are they playing, compared to how they played in the regular season?

The Kings, as several opposing coaches have observed now, are playing well above their regular season level. In the regular season, they were 26th in goals per game, with an average of 2.42. In these playoffs, they are first, averaging 3.4. Defensively there has been a predictable drop off. In the regular season they were first in goals against, averaging 2.05. They gave up the fewest goals at even strength, but their penalty kill was only 11th, with a success rate of 83.1%. In the playoffs they have now given up an average of 2.8 per game, putting them 8th among playoff teams.  Their penalty kill is also weaker, ranked 9th among playoff teams at  82.7%. It is hardly surprising that their defensive numbers have taken a beating, since they were playing playoff teams in fairly long series. On top of that, to make such a jump offensively they have to take risks. Obviously, those risks have paid off so far. They are just one win away from a return to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Blackhawks, on the other hand, have not seen much of a change in their scoring or defensive numbers. In the regular season they averaged 3.18 goals per game, good for second in the league. Their power play had a success rate of 19.5%. In these playoffs, they have averaged 3.00 goals per game, with their power play chugging along at 19.2%. Defensively they have slipped only slightly, allowing an average of 2.78 goals per game, compared to their regular season average of 2.58. They have seen an uptick in their penalty kill, killing 84.1% in the playoffs, compared to 81.4% in the regular season.  In general, despite the changed conditions that come with a playoff schedule, they have remained pretty consistent.

The Kings are described as a team that is built for the playoffs. Maybe that is a way of saying they don’t hit their stride until playoffs, but if the Blackhawks had made an offensive jump for the playoffs akin to the one the Kings made, they would probably not be playing a seventh game. Is Chicago tapped out? Did they burn all their reserves during the regular season compensating for injuries to key players? Were they ever a better team than the Kings? That they are meeting in the Conference Final for the second season in a row suggests there is not much to choose between them, outside the regular season. The Kings have won two games by more than two goals and the Blackhawks have won only once by more than a goal. That certainly weighs in the Kings’ favor, but a win is a win. You can’t read too much into how much the team won by. Heck, maybe the Blackhawks are due a a big lead.

It is hard to imagine the New York Rangers beating either of these teams, except that the Rangers seem to have finally found their depth. Additionally, the Kings and the Blackhawks are doing a good job of taking the edge off each other. Fatigue will be a slightly bigger issues for the Kings, as this is their third seven game series. Chicago hasn’t had a much quicker trip, with two six game series before this one. It still seems like a stretch that a team so reliant on their goaltender could beat teams who have come so far despite some erratic goaltending. Still, it might be an entertaining Final, which is good since it will probably attract a lot of viewers. Broadway versus Hollywood has obvious appeal but Chicago can bring a sizeable audience as well. The NHL must be humming a gleeful tune.

Tavares goes deep in first game

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By Jeremy Kahn

Oscar Tavares did not waste any time to get himself anointed with the fans of the St. Louis Cardinals in his major league debut.

Tavares launched a Yusmeiro Petit pitch 418 feet into the seats in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-0 at Busch Stadium.

The loss put an end to the Giants four-game winning streak, as Michael Wacha pitched a great game, despite two different rain delays.

Wacha went six innings, allowing three hits in his fifth rain-delayed of the 2014 season.

This season alone, the Cardinals have amassed rain delays of six hours and 30 minutes, incluing two delays of 51 and 47 minutes respectively.

In his last start on Sunday afternoon, Wacha and the Cardinals were forced to sit thru a 61-minute rain delay against the New York Yankees.

Delays are obviously nothing new to Wacha, as he sat and watched the bullpen blow a lead and after 4.5 hours and finally the game ended at 3:14 A.M. against the Kansas City Royals.

Petit gave up jut two hits in six innings of work for the Giants in place of Matt Cain, who was placed on the disabled list with a hamstring injury.

Jhonny Peralta put the finishing touches on the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he doubled off of George Kontos and the Cardinals put an end their three-game losing streak.

Buster Posey missed his third straigh game tightness in his lower back.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: With the Rangers off to the Finals Hawks making a comeback against LA

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by Larry Leavitt

New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals: There are multiple ways you could look at this last series that the Rangers won in six games. The Rangers came out firing on all cylinders with a very strong game, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was making some amazing saves. The score in game six could have been 5 or 6-0, but it was a Ranger one goal win over the Montreal Candadiens 1-0.

The true love of the sport and the best feeling of the game was having of all people the Rangers center Dominic Moore a former San Jose Shark score the game winning goal and the only goal for the Rangers to help them go onto the finals. Moore when he was with San Jose found out that his wife had cancer and missed the playoffs because they were taking care of his wife.

Moore left hockey after a year she passed away and finally came back into hockey and got back with the Rangers and what a Cinderella story for Moore and you couldn’t be happier for the guy who really went through some trials and tribulations in his personal life, hockey life and now he’s on top of the world getting that game winning goal to help New York get into the finals.

For the Rangers it’s huge that they are in the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL offices are right there in New York and New York is the major metropolitan communications center for sports and of course the number one TV market in the U.S. let alone the world. The Rangers haven’t been in the finals since 1993 whiich they won against the L.A. Kings.

Chicago (3) vs. Los Angeles (3): The Chicago Blackhawks evened up the series 3-3 on Friday night against the Los Angeles Kings with a one goal win 4-3 in game six forcing a game seven which will be Sunday night in Chicago that will decide who will go to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Hawks have now won two striaght after losing three straight and falling 3-1 in the series only to even it up on Friday.

The Hawks have come back strong, they never took a shift off, and the Kings had their chances, they had with their shots and they couldn’t find the back of the net, the Kings out shot the Hawks 29-25.This game six was razor thin one goal win for Chicago, just getting by the Kings again. Game five the game that sparked Chicago and got them their mojo back was one of the best hockey games I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a few decades worth in my time.

The Hawks won in double over time in game five 5-4 and it didn’t matter what teams were playing but just watching the two teams at work, the engery of the sport, they said the 20 minute third period took 26 minutes because they had few stoppages of plays because of whistles. The on ice officals were letting them play the Kings and Hawks were going back and forth and each team had chances and I didn’t want to see it end.

In game five the star of the game was the Hawks Michal Handzus who scored the game winning goal in that second overtime for his fourth goal of the playoffs. This was the game that got the Hawks right back into this series and they tied this thing up in game six on Friday night without forcing a sudden death and yes a one goal victory to bring this to a game seven on Sunday.

Larry Leavitt is covering the Stanley Cup Finals for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Moss and Donaldson Knock The Halo Off The Angels, A’s Win 9-5

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OAKLAND, CA - MAY 30: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakand Athletics is congratulated by Coco Crisp #4 and Josh Donaldson #20 after Moss hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at O.co Coliseum on May 30, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 30: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by Coco Crisp #4 and Josh Donaldson #20 after Moss hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at O.co Coliseum on May 30, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Brandon Moss hit his first grand slam of his career and Josh Donaldson launched two deep home runs in the first game of this critical home series against the Angels (30-24) and propelled the A’s (33-22) to a 9-5 victory. The A’s ran through the entire lineup in the bottom of the first inning and scored five runs to knock out Angels starter Garret Richards in only 2/3 of an inning pitched. Donaldson went 3 for 4 with four RBI and Moss went  1 for 2 with four RBI to contribute a majority of the Athletics offense tonight. On the mound, Drew Pomeranz (5-2) went 5 1/3 innings and struck out five for his fifth win of the year.

“We had good energy right out of the gate,” said Athletics head coach Bob Melvin. “It didn’t feel like it was going to be one of those nights where you’d see too many balls leave the ballpark but there were strong guys. It doesn’t surprise me when they hit homers (Donaldson, Moss).”

Tonight was Donaldson’s second ever multi-homer game of his career and Melvin said, “He’s playing really well right now, across the board. He has great focus. He knows how he’s going to get pitched and his defense comes with him.”

Moss, who ended up leaving the game early because of calf stiffness spoke on his first grand slam and said, “I’ve never come close to one. I came close-ish once last year when I flied out to the wall. It was on my mind, not that I was trying to hit one. I just thought it would be cool to do it. And it felt good, for sure.”

Putting up five runs in the first made the entire O.Co Coliseum crowd feel good especially when going up against a team like the Angels.

The A’s added to their lead in the second and third inning when Donaldson hit his first of two homers in the game to right field over the out of town scoreboard. In the third, Donaldson received his second RBI of the night when he singled home Crisp and gave the A’s a 7-0 lead after three.

The Angels won the fourth inning when Mike Trout hit his eleventh homer of the year and Howie Kendrick hit his third of the year and gave the Angels three run and brought the lead to only four runs.

However in the bottom of the fifth, Donaldson launched a line drive home run to center field off of a two seam fastball that catapulted the A’s to 9 runs to the Angels 3.

The Angels C.J. Cron doubled in a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth but then the A’s relief squad of Otero, Gregerson and Dolittle came in for 3 2/3 scoreless innings and gave the A’s their 33rd win of the year.

The Angels send Tyler Skaggs (4-2, 3.97 ERA) to the mound against Tommy Milone (3-3, 3.50) who is 3-0 and has an ERA a little over one in his last four starts.

 

Bumgarner continues to stay hot

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By Jeremy Kahn

After learning earlier in the day that Matt Cain was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season, Madison Bumgarner went out and proved why he can be considered to be one of the aces of the staff.

Bumgarner struck out 10 for the second game in a row, as the Giants won their fourth straight game with a 9-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

In seven innings of work, Bumgarner did not allow a run, gave up just three hits and walked just one.

Over his last two games against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday and tonight against the Cardinals, Bumgarner is 2-0 with just one walk and 20 strikeouts.

The Giants have won eight out of their last nine, and are now 35-19 on the season, the best record in the major leagues and are seven games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies in the National League West.

Hunter Pence hit a huge three-run home run, and added another hit, while Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single and a double; however Sandoval’s streak of nine consecutive games with a RBI was stopped.

Both Gregor Blanco and Hector Sanchez each picked up two-run singles, as the Giants scored seven runs with two outs on the evening and on the season, the Giants have scored 117 runs with two outs, the most in the major leagues.

Giants leadoff batter Angel Pagan also got in on the act, as he picked up two hits and scored twice against the reigning National League Champions.

Adam Wainwright, who entered the game with a 20-inning scoreless streak and a major league leading 1.67 earned run average, lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs in eight hits and his earned run average raised to 2.32.

The Giants got Wainwright in the very first inning, as Pagan led off the game with a double, went to third on a Pence flyball and then scored on a two-out single by Michael Morse.

Things got ugly for the Cardinals and Wainwright in the top of the second inning, as the Giants exploded for four runs, as Pagan singled in Brandon Hicks and then Pence slammed a Wainwright pitch into BigMacLand, a 447-foot blast that gave the Giants 5-0 lead.

John Jay broke up the shutout in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he cleared the bases with a double off of David Huff and then Allen Craig added an RBI double off of Juan Gutierrez.

NBA Playoffs: Home floor great advantage for host OKC;Heat could put it away tonite in game six

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio (3) vs. Oklahoma City (2): It’s not a coinindence that the Spurs won on Thursday night 117-89 in game five and they were at home. Every home team have won in this series and this is the continuing trend, there also have been some adjustments that the Spurs made. Obviously they play much better at home that’s usually the key in the NBA home court advantage is a very big deal.

One of the problems that the Spurs have been having in the last few games since OKC’s Serge Ibaka came back is containing him. If you watched games three and four when Ibaka came back and OKC had home court advantage what you saw was not only does San Antonio have trouble containing him on offense but also because he’s a big guy with good moves down low.

The Spurs have trouble trying to stop him on offense and defensive glass they had trouble getting around his defensive presence and that really altered the way the Spurs played and it kind of just limited them especially on defense. Ibaka is really good before he was blocking shots left and right. The Spurs needed a way to get around him to move him around not just on offense but on defense.

This is what the Spurs did and OKC didn’t expect it, the Spurs put Matt Bonner at center and put Tiago Splitter in and Splitter played about 12 mintues. He’s not a key player for the Spurs he’s been typically their starter because he’s a big guy he’s a center and Bonner is not your typical center and plays power forward. The Spurs and Thunder go at it again on Saturday for game six.

Miami (3) vs. Indiana (2): The Heat let up a little bit in game five losing 93-90 and obviously the Pacers had home court advantage and that helped them right there. The Pacers fans have been just amazing, they’re very knowledgeable than any fans in the NBA and they really legitimately hate the Miami Heat. This has been building up in this series all along so there is just a lot of emotion involved.

When your playing on that floor in Indianapolis a lot of that washes down on the players and it definitely engergizes Indiana and it impacts the Heat too. Even with all that in their favor the Pacers are still only able to win by three points and that was after a mediocre game from the Heat. The Pacers had their shot and they kind of blew it.

Earlier in this series the Pacers had a little bit of momentum going in after that first win and they really had Miami on the ropes in game two but then they let Miami get back in and pull out the victory. If the Pacers were able to pull off that game two victory and go back to Miami with a two game lead that would have been huge.

A Pacers victory would have changed the face of this series but instead they split it and the Heat took two in Miami. The Heat have a 3-2 lead going into Saturday night’s game, it’s questionable now if the Pacers have the fire power, the consistency to win any more games in Miami and this is where game six is on Friday night.

David Zizmor is covering the NBA Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Slumping A’s fall to Detroit; set to host Halos

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, May 29, 2014

Miguel Cabrera smacked a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for Detroit Thursday, and the Tigers hung on for a 5-4 win over the Athletics at the Coliseum in Oakland.

The A’s, who stranded 14 baserunners, have cooled off of late. Oakland is 2-2 on the current homestand and has lost six of its last eight games.

Rick Porcello (8-2) overcame a career-high six walks to pick up the win. Closer Joe Nathan survived a rough ninth inning to earn his 13th save.

In the ninth, Nathan surrendered a leadoff double to Josh Donaldson, a run-scoring infield single by Yoenis Cespedes, and an RBI double for Josh Reddick before retiring pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie on a game-ending groundout.

The Tigers built a 5-2 lead in the seventh when Victor Martinez hit a two-run double and Cabrera added an RBI groundout.

Nick Punto hit a two-run homer for the A’s in the fourth inning, his first round-tripper of the season. He also had a career-high tying three walks.

Losing pitcher Jesse Chaves (4-3) worked six innings, striking out three, walking two and giving up three earned runs.

Attendance was announced as 21,860. The A’s homestand continues with a three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

A’s ACORNS: This weekend, the Athletics celebrate the 40th anniversary of their 1974 World Series championship, the third of three consecutive titles, something no other Bay Area major league franchise has achieved. Members of the ’74 A’s will take part in an autograph session in the Bar & Grille (formerly the Westside Club) on Friday, and a session with only Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers is scheduled for Saturday. Autograph tickets go on sale at 4:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at Section 216. Proceeds for all autograph sessions will benefit the Catfish Hunter ALS Foundation. … On Saturday, May 31, Oakland outfielder Josh Reddick will host a baseball fielding clinic for Richmond Little Leaguers when the A’s and PG&E dedicate Dr. Martin Luther King Field as part of the “Energize Your Field” program.

Giants blast past Cards

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By Jeremy Harness

The Giants haven’t exactly been known as a hitting team for the past few years, but they have bucked that trend lately, and it has paid dividends.

The Giants used that wave of momentum to move past the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game weekend series, 6-5, at Busch Stadium Thursday night.

For much of the season, Pablo Sandoval was stuck in a funk at the plate without a real end in sight. In fact, during the first two months of the season, Sandoval’s batting average hovered just above .200, which isn’t exactly what you wish for when you’re in the final year of your contract, a situation that he happens to be in.

But boy, have times changed. He has slowly brought his average back up to a somewhat-respectabe .247, to the point that manager Bruce Bochy has moved him back up to the No. 3 spot in the lineup, right behind slugger Michael Morse.

Sandoval justified Bochy’s move by launching a solo homer into left-center in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-3.

Meanwhile, Morse continues to make a serious case for becoming a National League All-Star this season. The big outfielder went 2-for-4 on Thursday and blasted a tape-measure shot that traveled halfway up the bleachers in left-center for a solo homer in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Morse is currently batting .290 and has added more than his fair share of majestic shots into the bleachers that tend to have a lasting effect on fans who have a big part of the All-Star selection come July.

Six innings later, he broke a tie with a hard liner into right-center that skipped past center fielder Peter Bourjos and bounced all the way to the wall, a play that scored two runs and gave the Giants a 6-4 lead.

Starter Ryan Vogelsong didn’t have his best start, but he did give the Giants 6 1/3 innings while giving up four runs on seven hits, walking three while striking out four.

Thankfully, his bullpen was slightly better, particularly Javier Lopez – who earned the win Thursday, thanks to Morse’s go-ahead hit – and Jean Machi, who combined to completely shut down the Cardinals and give the ball to Sergio Romo in the ninth with a two-run lead.

Romo did surrender a run in the final inning, as Matt Carpenter scored Jon Jay with a single, but the closer settled down to get his 17th save of the season.

A’s Fail to Cash In, Lose to Tigers

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BY PAUL GACKLE OAKLAND — A hot-spring day in Oakland felt like October as the Detroit Tigers topped the A’s 5-4 at O.co Coliseum on Thursday.

The A’s failed to cash-in on several opportunities in the final contest of a four-game set with the Tigers, leaving 14 runners on base and going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, triggering memories of the team’s shortcomings in playoffs over the last two years.

“We had plenty of opportunities today,” Manager Bob Melvin said. “We had some situational at bats where we didn’t come through.”

The first bungle came in the second inning when the A’s loaded the bases with no outs but failed to score after Eric Sogard hit into an unconventional 1-2-3 double play and Coco Crisp bounced out to first.

The A’s botched another scoring chance in the fifth when they put runners on the corners with no outs before Josh Donaldson struck out, Brandon Moss popped out and Yoenis Cespedes was robbed of a hit by a diving J.D. Martinez in left field.

“That’s the game of baseball,” starter Jesse Chavez said, referring to the A’s missed opportunities. “That’s going to happen and, unfortunately, today we didn’t get that big hit.”

Tigers starting pitcher Rick Porcello tried to lend the A’s a hand in the sixth, walking Nick Punto and Coco Crisp and hitting Eric Sogard with a pitch to fill the bases with two outs. But pinch hitter Derek Norris popped up to first, leaving three more runners on base.

The A’s collected nine walks and nine hits in the contest.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the third when Ian Kinsler doubled off Chavez and Miguel Cabrera brought him in on a fielder’s choice.

The A’s jumped ahead 2-1 in the fourth when Nick Punto hit his first home run in an A’s uniform with Alberto Callaspo aboard, but the Tigers responded with two runs in the top of the fifth and they added two crucial insurance runs in the seventh off former-closer Jim Johnson, taking a 5-2 lead.

Johnson is now 0-2 with a 14.04 ERA at home this season. Once again, he was booed as he walked off the mound at the Coliseum.

Melvin said he’s uncertain about what Johnson’s role in bullpen will be going forward.

“We’ll continue to try to find a good spot for him and get him going,” he said.

Chavez (4-3) continued his May backslide, surrendering three earned runs on eight hits in six innings of work. After a dazzling April in which he went 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA, Chavez’s numbers are starting to even out. He posted a 2-3 record with a 3.90 ERA in May, giving up eight hits in each of his last two starts.

But the A’s made things interesting in the ninth, scoring two runs off doubles from Donaldson and Josh Reddick and a single by Cespedes. They put to go-ahead run on base with two outs, but Jed Lowrie grounded out to first to end the game.

The A’s return to action at O.co Coliseum on Friday taking on the second-place Los Angeles Angels, who have closed the gap in the American League West standings to two games.