Month: May 2014

Warriors force Game 7 in thriller

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By Jeremy Harness

Bay Area sports fans still have at least one playoff game to look forward to.

A night after the Sharks were bounced out of the NHL playoffs in Game 7, the Warriors are going to play a deciding game of their own Saturday night, as they edged past the Los Angeles Clippers, 100-99, Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors led for much of the second half and just held on down the stretch, withstanding a frantic flurry by the Clippers in the final 20 seconds

In the timespan, while the Warriors led by four, Clippers guard Darren Collison missed a layup and also missed a 3-pointer after the Clippers secured the rebound, while Jamal Crawford missed another 3-pointer, before Matt Barnes made an off-balance 3-ball with 1.1 seconds left.

The Clippers fouled Stephen Curry, who missed the first free throw, and then missed the second one purposely to run out the clock and send the series to Staples Center for a winner-take-all tilt for the right to go the second round.

This was a game where the Warriors didn’t shoot the ball very well but grinded out a playoff-style victory when they needed it the most.

Curry scored 24 points but made only nine of his 24 shots. However, he turned the ball over only twice while handing out nine assists, two nights after committing eight turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Warriors turned the ball over only eight times, which certainly made up for the subpar shooting.

They also drew key fouls down the stretch against the Clippers’ impact players. Andre Iguodala made a 3-pointer while drawing a foul on Blake Griffin to extend the Warriors’ lead to 96-89 with 2:31 left, which was Griffin’s sixth foul.

The Clippers quickly cut it to two, before Harrison Barnes drew a blocking foul on sharpshooter J.J Redick, which fouled him out of the game as well.

49ers draft day report: Niners need to focus on corners and wideouts in the coming draft

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The 49ers are drafting number 30 and it’s difficult to predict who’s going to be there. The 49ers in this draft have to wait 29 picks before they select somebody. You chop it off not only the 49ers draft at number 30 they also have the most picks in this draft.

The 49ers have something like 11-12 picks and they made a lot of trades involving picks and never the less the 49ers have a lot of trades. They have six picks in the first three rounds and they have a lot of ammunition to move around in to make their plays for particular players.

As we all know we have been watching the 49ers and General Manager Trent Baalke the last few years. Baalke likes to make trades, he does it all the time and let’s be honest the Niners don’t have the roster spots so they kind of have to make trades.

If you have 11 draft picks and you only have five or six spots left on the roster that are even flexible or possibly open what are you going to do with 11 picks that are not worth it so what do the 49ers do with those picks? They try to trade back some of those picks and try to get those picks for the following season.

This is something the Niners have done time and again, last year they traded up to get Eric Reid in the first round, but they also traded back and got more picks in this draft. They also have an extra second round in the Alex Smith trade.

The Niners have a lot of ammunition to move around, if I’m the 49ers I’m probably focusing my early picks on three areas. I’m looking at corner backs, wide receivers, and pass rushers. Why is this? Look the 49ers lost Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown in free agency.

The don’t really have a lot of experience in the secondary right now at corner. They need to fill those positions. In the first round and the second round your going to see a corner back no matter what, at least one corner back you could see even more. In this draft the Niners are going to come out with two corners.

NFL draft day begins Thursday May 8th at Radio Music Hall in New York City

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk radio

Raiders draft day report: Oakland can trade down from their number five pick to fill holes

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders as we all know had a lousy season in 2013 but having a lousy season means your going to have fun in the draft because your a the top of it. The Raiders have the number five pick in this year’s draft.

Who their going to pick? We can make a number of guesses at this stage that’s because there are several decent quarterbacks in this 2014 draft. The real question mark here is who is going to get selected in what the Raiders want in the quarterback and this is scheduled to be one of the deepest drafts in recent years.

There are a lot of high quality players that the Raiders can take with them at the number five pick. The other complicating factor is the Raiders need help everywhere, there are very few positions where you can confidently say that the Raiders are set with who they have.

The Raiders need help at every position that means that you take the best available player and it also means that if you have that many holes to fill maybe you don’t pick a number five. Maybe you trade back from number five to go down the latter and stock pile draft picks in a very deep draft.

You trade down from number five to let’s say to number nine to pick up a second and a third round pick, so you could add more bodies to compete for the starting squads on your roster. Personally I don’t have a strong opinion on who the Raiders should pick in the first round.

If you ask me they should pass up a quarterback in the first round, it seems like a lot of the quarterbacks in this draft there are a lot of guys who are good but there are no one you would consider great or for example the next Johnny Unitas. If your the Raiders and your looking for a quarterback and the Raiders say, “we signed Matt Schaub to this contract” and anyone you draft to be a quarterback will end up being a back up this year.

No matter what Oakland does, the new recruit is going to be a back up quarterback unless Schaub gets seriously injured. The Raiders may not select the first round pick for quarterback but select a blue chip prospect at left tackle, wide receiver, or a pass rusher. It’s going to be one these kinds of guys whose building blocks are at the top of the draft and get a quarterback in the second round or maybe even in the third round.

NFL draft day is Thursday May 8th at Radio Music Hall New York City

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk radio

Giants take to the road after successful homestand

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by George Devine, Sr.

The San Francisco Giants are now 17-11, and in first place in the NL West, after a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres in the final game of their second homestand to close out April. The month also saw them notch 34 homers. In the half-dozen games against Cleveland and San Diego, only one was a loss (to San Diego, 6-4, April 28).

The team now leaves AT&T Park for a 10-game road trip which will take in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

Pitching probables for the Atlanta series are RHP Tim Lincecum (1-1, 5.96) facing LHP Mike Minor, who will make his season debut, on Friday, May 3; Ryan Vogelsong (0-1, 5.40) vs. fellow RHP Julio Teheran (2-1, 1.47) on Saturday, May 3; and Madison Bumgarner (2-3, 3.74) against fellow lefty Alex Wood (2-4, 2.93) on Sunday, May 4. All games in the series will be shown on CSN Bay Area.

On Monday, May 5, when the Giants open in Pittsburgh, Matt Cain is expected to return to the team. LHP David Huff will remain on the disabled list until May 7, having been placed on the 15-day DL as of April 21 due to a left quad strain.

The Giants will return to McCovey Cove on Monday, May 12 for a three-game series against the Braves and four games hosting the Marlins.

A’s Griffin has elbow surgery, done for season

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, May 1, 2014

Oakland’s A.J. Griffin, a right-handed starting pitcher for the Athletics, underwent successful “Tommy John” reconstructive surgery Wednesday morning to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the A’s reported.

Griffin, who has not pitched this season for Oakland, had sought a second opinion from Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff, who evaluated the pitcher and performed the surgery at Texas Orthopedic Hospital in Houston.

Griffin had been placed on the 15-day disabled list at the end of spring training and will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2014 season.

The 26-year-old Griffin posted a 14-10 record and a 3.83 earned run average in 32 starts in 2013. He also allowed 171 hits while logging 171 strikeouts and issuing 54 walks in a team-leading 200 innings. Elbow tendonitis kept Griffin from pitching in the 2013 American League Division Series.

Meanwhile, the Athletics had the day off Thursday before traveling to Boston for a three-game weekend series at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Then, the A’s return home for a three-day, four-game series against Seattle, including an old-fashioned doubleheader on May 7, starting at 12:15 p.m.

Huge Third Inning Lifts A’s to Sweep of Rangers

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By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics (18-10) rode a huge seven-run third inning to exact revenge on the hosting Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park, sweeping their American League West foes one week after suffering the same fate at the hands of the enemy from the Lone Star State. With the series win, including a 12-1 game three blowout over the 2010 and 2011 World Series Runner-ups, the A’s now sit three games ahead of the Rangers (15-13) for first in the division, with the green and gold owning the best record in the AL.

Jesse Chaves (2-0, 1.89 ERA) pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball, surrendering no runs on eight strikeouts and a lone walk. Oakland tagged Rangers starter Robbie Ross Jr. (1-2, 3.86) for 10 runs, six earned, over 3 1/3 innings. The Athletics also knocked Rangers relievers Alexi Ogando and Shawn Tolleson for a run apiece.

Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes and Eric Sogard had RBI base hits in a seven-run third inning. Alberto Callaspo and Nick Punto also knocked in runs on outs in the frame. Derek Norris hit a run-scoring single in the fourth, as did Sogard to make it a 10-0 A’s lead. Callaspo plated Donaldson on a fifth-inning single off Ogando and Crisp launched a solo home run, his third of the season, to right center with two outs in the sixth to complete the A’s 12-run day.

Josh Wilson connected on an RBI double off reliever Luke Gregerson in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Rangers their lone score in the series finale. Jim Johnson gave up one hit in the ninth to finish off the A’s sweep of their divisional rival.

The A’s continue their road trip in first place, traveling to Boston to face the reigning World Series Champion Red Sox for a three-game set. The A’s will send Dan Straily to the mound to open the series after an off-day Thursday. The Red Sox rotation is yet to be set with a double-header against the Tampa Bay Rays on the books after a rainout Wednesday night.