Month: May 2014

Surprise Starter Plays Stopper for A’s in Game Two of Double Header

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By Matthew Harrington

Very few teams can feel confident after losing three of four games in a series, but the Oakland Athletics gained some piece of mind after dodging a four-game sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners (17-16) Wednesday evening at O.Co Coliseum. Yoenis Cespedes hit his sixth homer of the season, Drew Pomeranz fired five scoreless innings in his spot start and newly reinstalled closer Jim Johnson cruised to his second save of the season to close out a 2-0 A’s victory in game two of double header against the M’s.

The quality start by Pomeranz (2-1, 1.45 ERA), a starter by trade but long reliever out of Oakland’s necessity this season, could normally have been considered the surprise of the day. Instead, it was the fact that Oakland manager Bob Melvin penciled number 61 in for the start that most caught fans and writers alike off guard. The A’s had called up Arnold Leon from Sacramento to fill the 26th roster spot allowance for double the headers, leading many to conclude that top pitching prospect would make his Major League debut Wednesday night.

Instead Pomeranz, acquired from Colorado in the offseason in the Brett Anderson trade, got the nod and picked up his first win as a starter for the green and gold. The southpaw cruised through his five innings, allowing only one hit and no walks while striking out five. His skid-stopping appearance showed the Oakland coaching staff that he’s ready as an understudy if starters Dan Straily (1-2, 4.93) and Tommy Milone (0-3, 5.86) continue to falter. With the A’s offense scoring three runs or less in six of seven May games, it’s imperative that pitching picks up the offensive slack.

The A’s (20-15) received all the offense needed after shortstop Jed Lowrie singled Craig Gentry home off Seattle spot-starter Erasmo Ramirez (1-4, 6.00) in the third inning. Cespedes doubled the lead in the fourth after connecting on a 2-0 changeup from Ramirez to rip a liner over the wall in left field for his 20th run batted in on the season. While Cespedes now has homered on back-to-back days, third baseman Josh Donaldson saw his run of 29-straight games reaching base come to an end. Donaldson struck out three times and failed to reach base in four at-bats Wednesday.

Reliever Dan Otero strung together three shutout innings out of the pen after going a third of an inning in game one to save a staff that pitched four innings in the extra innings afternoon loss. Jim Johnson, taking the mound to a smattering of boos, silenced the critics momentarily by pitching a perfect ninth for his first save since April 6th. The A’s bullpen opened the second game down a man after Ryan Cook left game one in the tenth with an arm injury. The initial belief with the Oakland staff is that Cook’s injury is not that serious. Coco Crisp also exited game one after suffering a neck strain after crashing into the wall on an outstanding catch in the top of the fourth. Melvin expects his starting center fielder to be out for a few days, but will avoid time on the disabled list.

The A’s take Thursday off before welcoming their first interleague opponent to Oakland this season when the Washington Nationals come to town for a three-game set. Doug Fister is expected to make his 2014 debut with the Nats, facing Milone to open the series.

Rapid’s Goal Keeper Irwin Heroic in 0-0 Draw

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Photo Credit: sjearthquakes.com
Photo Credit: sjearthquakes.com

By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA, Calif–For the second straight match between the Colorado Rapids and the San Jose Earthquakes it ends scoreless, as the April 20th match also ended in a 0-0 draw.

Chances were seen from both squads with 31 total shots taken.  The Rapids outshot the home side 16-15.  However, the Quakes had the upper hand in shots on target 7-4, forcing Colorado Goal Keeper Clint Irwin to play an outstanding game.

The Quakes had a couple of outstanding chances, the first one coming in the tenth minute when a cross sent into the box by Midfielder, Atiba Harris found Striker, Chris Wondolowski.  However, Wondolowski misplayed the ball, which prevented him from scoring his team leading sixth goal of the campaign.

Another chance came for San Jose in the 23rd minute off of a corner kick set up by Shea Salinas.  Salinas decided to play the corner short.  He ended up with the ball of the left side of the box then striking it right at Rapid’s Keeper, Irwin.  Irwin was able to come up with the easy save.

Quakes’ Defender, Andreas Gorlitz, was substituted at the 45th minute with a right knee injury after a risky challenge by Colorado Midfielder, Charles Eloundou.  The challenege handed Eloundou the first yellow card of the game. “It doesn’t look good, it could be the end of the season type of thing,” explained Earthquakes Head Coach, Mark Watson.  Wondolowski added “it makes stomachs turn seeing injuries like that happen.  It doesn’t matter which team the player was on.”

The Quakes came out firing in the second half as well, with good chances coming from Alan Gordon and Wondolowski in the first 15 minutes of the half.  San Jose’s best chance of the game came off of the boot of Harris as he struck one towards net.  The ball was sure to find the back of the net until Irwin made a sprawling save to his right to keep the game even keel.

It wouldn’t be Earthquakes soccer if they hadn’t tried to get one late to win the game, and it almost came to fruition when a ball of the foot of Wondolowski found the right post and kicked right and away from the goal.

An impressive performance from the Quakes ends in disappointment once again, as they are unable to get on the board to earn a much needed 3-point game.  “We faced a great goal keeper tonight and of course it’s frustrating when you can’t get one by him, but we have to keep plugging away and can’t get ourselves down,” commented Wondolowski.  “I believe we did well, we created a lot more chances, and it was a good stepping stone,” added Harris.

The Earthquakes don’t have much time to rest as they are back to action at Buck Shaw Stadium this Saturday hosting FC Dallas.

OKC ties series at 1

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by George Devine, Sr.

By George Devine, Sr.

As a hometown crowd in Oklahoma City chanted “MVP! MVP!” at Kevin Durant, he and his Thunder teammates overcame the Los Angeles Clippers to tie the second round playoff series at a game apiece. The final score of 112-101 represented the home team’s surge in the third and fourth quarters, but it was a tight contest until halftime and beyond., with L.A. leading at one point in the second period.

Durant — who received his MVP trophy before the game — was the crowd’s favorite, and the top scorer with 32, 17 of those points in the first period. Russell Westbrook was just behind him with 31, contributing 10 boards and 4 assists. Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefoloska — typically a defensive standout — had 14 each.

For the Clippers, J.J. Redick had 18 points despite being guarded effectively. by Sefoloska. Blake Griffin had 15; Chris Paul led his teammates by scoring 17, and contributed 11 assists.

Game 3 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PDT at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Giants fall to Pirates, lose series

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By Jeremy Harness

The Giants’ road trip has not gotten off to the best start, as the Pittsburgh Pirates captured the three-game series win Wednesday afternoon by besting the Giants, 4-3, at PNC Park.

Tim Lincecum (2-2) had an outing to forget, as the right-hander went only four innings while surrendering four runs on eight hits, walking two while striking out four.

When Lincecum left the game, the Giants trailed 4-1, but they did make a comeback in the fifth inning. Brandon Belt lined one into right field that scored Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence.

However, that rally was short-lived, as Belt was thrown out at third while trying to stretch it into a triple.

Gerrit Cole was considerably better for Pittsburgh, as he gave up three runs on seven hits over eight innings.

Notes: Sandoval left the game with what was described as a thumb strain, and he is listed as day-to-day

A’s drop front game for third straight loss 6-4 in 10th inning

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by Paul Gackle

OAKLAND — After tagging Felix Hernandez for three late-inning runs, the A’s coughed up another lead at the O.co Coliseum on Wednesday, falling to the Seattle Mariners 6-4 in 10 innings in the first game of a doubleheader.

Southpaw reliever Fernando Abad surrendered his first run of the season in 15 outings when Robinson Cano singled in outfielder Michael Saunders in the top of the eighth inning, tying the game at 4-4.

The bullpen has been an issue for the A’s throughout the season. The team leads the American League in blown saves (six) and Manager Bob Melvin has shuffling his bullpen trying to find a winning formula

Saunders also scored the game-winning run for the Mariners with two outs in the 10th after Justin Smoak hit a high chopper to first that a leaping Daric Barton couldn’t come down with.

Ryan Cook (0-1), who surrendered a leadoff single to Saunders in the 10th, took the loss for the A’s, while Yoervis Medina (2-1) picked up the win for the Mariners.

The A’s rallied back from a 3-1 deficit in the 7th when Eric Sogard, Gentry, John Jaso and Brandon Moss strung together hits off Hernandez, chasing him from the game by scoring three runs.

The bats hit Hernandez hard all day, collecting 11 hits off the Mariners ace in 6 1/3 innings

Dan Straily put together a quality start for the A’s, surrendering three earned runs over six innings of work after giving up 14 earned runs in his previous 19 1/3 innings pitched.

Straily’s two big mistakes were home runs to Corey Hart — on his first pitch of the second — and to Mike Zunino in the fifth. The right-hander has now allowed the most home runs in the American League this season.

“It’s got to stop — I know that,” Straily said. “But I’m not going to say it’s a concern. There’s nothing I can really do to change it, just move forward and have a short memory.”

Coco Crisp left the game with a strained neck in the fourth inning after crashing into the wall at full speed in right-center field, robbing Kyle Seager of an extra-base hit.

“One heck of a catch,” Straily said. “Just the ability to hold onto that ball, running and hitting that post out there, running into the pad. That has to be tough to just hold on to that — he’s a tough guy.”

Paul Gackle covers all A’s home Wedesday and Thursday day games on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Feitelberg report: Neither SF mayor or Giants will come out to oppose prop B

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The politics of Proposition B in San Francisco is full of catch 22s, for one Mayor Ed Lee will not come out with a public endorsement for the measure that restricts height development along the waterfront because if he does he could offend such organizations like the San Francisco Giants who want to develop a urban village in Lot A of their parking lot which is situated next to the AT&T Park. We should mention the Giants have not endorsed the proposition one way or the other too.

If Lee comes out against the measure he would offend valuable voters who could use that against him in his next re-election bid for going in favor of waterfront development and going against protecting height development. The Giants have said they have not taken a postion on Prop B. Prop B, the Warriors never admitted specifically that Lee’s indecision on the measure was the reason to end their bid on trying to build at Piers 30-32.

Residents of the waterfront have made it clear that they don’t want to lose the bay views and the environment of what the waterfront now presents and they’ve got a good bead on things as voters signed ballots during the Warriors effort of getting an arena at Piers 30-32 and the minimum amount of ballots were met by almost double.

A victory of Prop B the city said would cost the city losses up to $1.6 billion in repairs to housing, transit and for a seawall that’s needs repair to hold back the bay. The Giants wanted to build on Lot A parking lot next to AT&T Park also with Pier 70 owned by Forest City a developer who wants to build condos and retail on that large location.

The Sierra Club who supports Prop B wants to see prop B contol growth at waterfront and Embarcadero to preserve the neighborhood for it’s future generations and that such growth on heights would Manhattonize the neighborhood with towering condos, retail, and luxury hotels. The waterfront neighbors do not oppose the Warriors new arena site development at Mission Bay.

Opponents against the measure say such projects would not only benefit the neighborhood but would provide more jobs and that private developers would spend $322 million to fix infrastruture.

The opponents of Prop B say the city would receive $93.6 million out of the $322 million that would fix the sea wall, transit and affordable housing and the Giants and Pier 70 would be able to move ahead with their development plans.

For Prop B to lose at this point those are long odds after the grass roots ballots that went to City Hall that showed the proponents of the measure have the support to get Prop B passed by a convincing proportion.

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos who was opposed to constructing a new Warriors arena at Pier 30-32 and other height unlimited projects proposed for the waterfront. A condo measure for the waterfront back in November Propositions B and C called the 8 Washington lost, that made the odds for the Warriors arena or any other future developments dim and that San Francisco voters would more than likely vote down any development idea at the waterfront.

There’s little doubt in June voters will come out big for Prop B and that San Francisco voters will resoundly support Prop B for various reasons, to keep the views of the bay or that the voter just doesn’t trust the politicians and developers who some say plan to help the rich rather than the working people in the waterfront neighborhood, “I sleep better at night knowing the voters, rather than politicians and beuraucrats, have a final say on height limit waviers on port waterfront property,” said Agnos.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings arena developments for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants: Posey doesn’t have any complaints about replay rule;Chavez hits rough patch in first loss

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–With the exception of certain pitchers in Japan nobody is perfect, occasionally pitchers will run into a stinker such as A’s starting pitcher Jesse Chavez on Tuesday night at the Coliseum when he surrendered three runs in the top of the first inning against the Seattle Mariners. His offense didn’t help him a whole lot.

Chavez really didn’t get a shot to stay in the game to see if he could hold the M’s who had a one run lead on Oakland going to the sixth. Chavez got lifted in the middle of the sixth inning after getting charged with four runs all earned. MLB.com came out with the pitcher power rankings and they had the Giants at number one and the A’s number two for best pitching in the majors, ironically for Tuesday night the both teams lost.

A’s outfielder Yoenis Cespedes has time to lift his .257 average, he was largely underschooled when he arrived in the Oakland. He’s been learning a lot of his craft at the Major Leauge level and he’s a major challenge and can be a force and as time goes by he will learn what pitchers are doing to try and get him out.

Cespedes banged out his fifth home run and 19th RBI against the M’s on Tuesday night.

Giants update: One thing about instant replay I’ve talked to several team coordinators and they’ve already began to realize you don’t challenge your plays that are close but you challenge your plays that are obvious. In the case of Giants catcher Buster Posey’s tag on Pirates runner Starling Marte there was nothing to lose on Tuesday night’s game as the Bucs challenged the play at the plate.

The other thing the players have to figure you have the umpires making these calls back in New York off TV, and the interesting thing is at the other three bases they determined whether or not somebody is on the base or not with his hand or his foot or whether or not the base deflects. You can’t do that with home plate.

Whether or not Posey regrets it regarding the replay rule, it’s a rule that people have to adjust to, in fact truthfully it’s not a change. The only thing that’s a change is adding language to the rule that a catcher has to leave a lane around home plate for the runner. The bigger change is to the runner and the catcher himself, the runner is not allowed to contact or push through to get home.

Michael Duca does Giants and A’s commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Slumping A’s drop a second straight to Seattle

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By Morris Phillips

For the first time in 2014, the A’s are slumping, after dropping a second straight contest to the Mariners, 8-3, at the Coliseum on Tuesday.

The A’s have lost 4 of 5 but retain their spot atop the AL West with a two game lead over the Rangers. Texas fell 12-1 to the Rockies in Denver on Tuesday.

“Our approaches are fine we’re just not swinging the bats like we did those three days in Texas,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You’re going to go through good times and bad times over the course of the season. They’ve pitched us pretty tough.”

Starter Jesse Chavez fell into trouble immediately, allowing three runs in the first inning, on a wild pitch and two run-scoring hits by Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak. Chavez would settle down after that, throwing 5 1/3 innings and departing with the A’s trailing 4-2.

The A’s responded in the bottom of the sixth as Yoenis Cespedes got a Roenis Elias pitch in his wheelhouse and deposited it beyond the left field wall to pull the A’s within 4-3. But that was it for the A’s offense as Elias and three Seattle relievers limited the A’s to a pair of hits over the final three innings.

The Mariners won their fourth straight, eight of 10, and moved over .500 after 30 games for the first time since the 2009 season. Seattle will look for the rare four-game sweep on Wednesday, when the teams play a doubleheader beginning at 12:35pm.

“We’re feeding off each other, picking each other up and we’re trusting each other. If we don’t get the job done, then the guy on deck will,” Seattle’s Michael Saunders said.

Chavez made just the ninth start of his career on Tuesday, and while it wasn’t near the standard he set in his first six starts this season, he battled and showed the variety of pitches he’s developed in converting from a reliever to a starter since being acquired by the A’s in 2012. In the middle innings, Chavez showed his newly-developed cut fastball and stayed out of trouble until the sixth. The 30-year old rail thin right hander allowed four runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts and two walks.

Reliever Jim Johnson ran into trouble in the ninth, allowing four runs on two hits and two walks. The rally put the game away for the Mariners and forced Melvin’s hand as he had to summon reliever Dan Otero to get the final out of the ninth.

Coco Crisp had a pair of hits in the leadoff spot, but the next two hitters, Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson were a combined 0 for 8 with a pair of strikeouts.

Dan Straily will face King Felix Hernandez in the doubleheader opener, and neither team had announced a pitcher for the nightcap at press time with the A’s likely to promote a starter from Sacramento to make the start.

Warriors fire Jackson

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By Jeremy Harness

The Warriors have fired head coach Mark Jackson after three seasons at the helm, amid internal strife and strife.

The firing comes after the Warriors finished a season during which the team won 51 games and made the playoffs for a second straight year before losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games.

According to numerous reports, the reason behind the dismissal was the fact the Jackson did not get along with team management, particularly owner Joe Lacob.

Jackson had issues with some of his assistant coaches in the past season, including Brian Scalabrine, whom Jackson re-assigned to the Warriors’ D-League affiliate due to “differences in philosophy.”

Regarding the short list of candidates, the Warriors are reportedly looking at Steve Kerr as well as Stan Van Gundy.

Bizarre play ends game

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By Jeremy Kahn

In one of the most bizarre ways to lose a game it happened to the San Francisco Giants in the second game of their four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sterling Marte tripled off the right field wall, Hunter Pence got the ball into Ehire Adrianza, who in turn threw to Pablo Sandoval; however the throw form Adrianza got by Sandoval and Marte attempted to score from third base.

Originally, Marte was called out by home plate umpire Quinn Walcott; however after the play was reviewed via instant replay, the call was reversed and the Pirates ended up winning the game 2-1 at PNC Park.

Adrianza was charged with a throwing error on the play that got by Sandoval.

The win ended the Giants six-game winning streak, their longest win streak of the short 2014 season and it also gave Tim Hudson probably one of the hardest losses of his major league career.

Hudson went 8.2 innings, allowing two runs (one of them earned), walked one and struck out five, as he saw his record fall to 4-2 on the season.

Adrianza gave the Giants a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Brandon Belt from third base.

That would be the lead for all of one-half inning, as Tony Sanchez grounded out to third base that scored Marte from third base.

Charlie Morton pitched an outstanding game for the Pirates, as he went eight innings, allowing one run on just three hits, walking one and striking out three; however he did not fare in the decision.

Tony Watson pitched one inning of two hit ball, also struck out a batter and upped his record to 3-0 on the 2014 season.