Month: May 2014

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs commentary: NY and Habs open up in Montreal Sat;Kings and Ducks for all the marbles tonight

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by Larry Leavitt

Montreal vs. NY Rangers: The Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban is a great example of what a defenseman in the NHL is all about, in years past their have been big defensemen who have stepped up and made a difference in the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup. Which for example former Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien he was a defenseman that scored a lot of goals and played big in the playoffs.

The Canadiens Max Pacioretty he was kind of quiet the beginning of the second round but he really woke up near the end and he was taking some poundings but it didn’t let it bother him and that’s the difference of these teams. Some of the physicality was starting to bother some of these people and it got them off their game.

If the NHL had to put their dream match up together for the TV markets it would be Montreal or Toronto and those are the two huge markets in Canada and any of the New York teams. That’s the media, that’s the heart of the USA and for Canada. The NHL is probably loving this match up.

It’s good hockey teams playing good hockey teams, it’s been a long time since there has been a hockey team to come out of Canada to represent the country. Team Canada has won the gold medal in the Olympics in the last two years. That’s given them a little taste of the stuff that could happen.

Anaheim vs. Los Angeles: As you watch these two teams you can watch the bounce of the puck,you can see the pucks bouncing one way for one team and not the other. Whoever is going to take those lucky breaks is going to win this series.

These two teams are so evenly matched, the talent levels, you might see a lot of pucks off the posts that go wide or you see guys wide open and the puck bounces over his stick you know the puck is really not going that way.

In this series you would have to give the edge to the Kings on Friday night in this game seven. They’ve been in that situation so many times, more than Anaheim in the past. Either way this is going to be a good hockey game at the Honda Center. It’s going to be tight.

The key to game seven is to stay out of the penalty box. You don’t want to give your team any disadvantage and that’s when the hitting gets pulled back a little you don’t want to take those penalties, you want to stay on your game and play more of a defensive game. The winner of this series plays the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL Western Conference Finals.

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

Cain finally breaks through in Giants comeback win over the Marlins

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By Morris Phillips

An early three-run deficit and an opponent riding a lengthy run of success at AT&T Park couldn’t derail the Giants on Thursday. 

After trailing 4-1 in the third inning–and before you knew it–chipping away led to adding on, and the Giants had things under control in a 6-4 victory over the Marlins in the opener of a four-game, weekend series.

The Giants have won 16 of 21 and increased their lead in the NL West to four games over the idle Rockies and five games over the Dodgers. And the win halted a surprising streak built by the Marlins, in which they had won 10 of their previous 11 games in San Francisco. 

Matt Cain finally broke through and grabbed his first win of the season, pitching into the eighth inning after a rough beginning. It took seven starts for the longest tenured Giant to get a win in 2014, but in the eyes of manager Bruce Bochy, the drought wasn’t a big deal.  In Bochy’s opinion, Cain had pitched well but simply didn’t have the results to show for it.  Against Miami, two early home runs didn’t deter the right hander, and by the middle innings, Cain was dealing, on his way to retiring 16 of the final 21 batters he faced.

“He didn’t cave in,” Bochy said.  “It wasn’t a very auspicious start.  He finally got settled in.”

Miami’s Nathan Eovaldi came out throwing smoke and making big pitches in big spots to get out of jams, as he stranded a trio of Giants’ base runners in the first two frames.  But all the activity on the bases finally caught up to the 24-year old in the fifth, when he allowed three runs on four hits and couldn’t finish the inning.  Giants’ hitters got a primer in the third, when Michael Morse simply rode Eovaldi’s fastball the opposite way and into the right field arcade.  Morse’s homer brought the Giants within 3-2. 

In the fifth, the hit-it-where-its-pitched philosophy continued as Buster Posey launched a double in front of the 421-foot sign in right to score Angel Pagan.  Morse then delivered a run-scoring single in front of centerfielder Christian Yelich, who was playing deep.  And then again, when Tyler Colvin doubled down the left field line which chased Eovaldi. 

“To the Giants’ credit, they did a great job of putting at-bats together that inning,” Marlins’ infielder Casey McGehee said.

The Giants’ bullpen has been the big league’s stingiest to date in 2014, and that continued Thursday as Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo came on to close the deal, combining to get the last four outs.  Again, Romo did not walk anyone or create any unpleasant drama.  The closer simply got ahead in the count, and finished hitters by expanding the strike zone just enough to induce swings.  In Romo’s first 20 innings pitched this season, he’s walked just three while striking out 20.

The transformation of the Giants’ offensive attack in just one year continued on Thursday as Morse’s home run was the 50th the team has hit in just 42 games.  Last season, the Giants hit just 44 home runs at AT&T Park, the lowest total of any National League club at home except the Marlins.

On Friday, Yusmeiro Petit will start for the Giants in place of Tim Hudson, who is experiencing discomfort in his hip.  Petit will be opposed by Miami’s Henderson Alvarez.

 

OKC wins series

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by George Devine, Sr.

In a decisive 104-98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder won game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals and the right to move on.

MVP Kevin Durant was the main man for the visitors, playing almost the entire game (44:06). He scored 39 points, had 16 key defensive rebounds and 5 assists. Russell Westbrook poured in 19 and had 12 assists. Serge Ibaka had 6 points and Steven Adams 10.

For Los Angeles, despite the enthusiasm of their home court crowd, the evening was disappointing. They dominated in the first frame, 30-16, but trailed in the remaining quarters, despite playing three of their key men for practically the whole night: Chris Paul (40:18) had 25 points, contributing 11 assists and 7 boards. Matt Barnes (42:18) had 9 points and Blake Griffin (40:53) had 22 points and 9 rebounds. J.J. Redick was good for 18 points but was ineffective when sent to defend against Durant, who at one point scored two three-pointers in a row off him.

Another key factor was the free throw percentage, where OKC was way ahead, 87.7% to 60%.

In off-court news, Clippers coach Doc Rivers was fined $25,000 by the NBA for criticizing the officiating in Game 5. Meanwhile, on the fine front, team owner has said through his attorney that he will not pay the fine of $2.5 million levied by the league for reported racist remarks, and that there will be litigation to stop a forced sale of the franchise.

A’s get Banks from Padres, cut Barton loose

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, May 15, 2014

The Oakland Athletics used their day off to do some wheeling and dealing, sending minor league outfielder Jake Goebbert and a player to be named later to San Diego in exchange for outfielder-first baseman Kyle Blanks.

To clear a spot for Blanks on the active roster, the A’s designated first baseman Daric Barton for assignment. Blanks will join Oakland Friday when the Athletics begin their weekend series at Cleveland.

Blanks appears to have some pop in his bat. He hit nine home runs with 20 RBIs and a .265 batting average in 27 games at Triple-A El Paso before being called up by San Diego on May 5. Blanks has spent parts of the last six seasons with the Padres, hitting .228 with 28 home runs and 98 RBIs in 239 games.

In 31 games at Triple-A Sacramento, Goebbert was batting .257 with six homers and 25 RBIs. He was acquired by Oakland in a deal with Houston in April 2013.

Barton was part of a 2004 trade with St. Louis that sent pitcher Mark Mulder to the Cardinals. The A’s gave Barton all kinds of opportunities to stick, as the converted catcher spent parts of the last eight seasons with Oakland. A .247 hitter in 551 games, Barton was hitting .158 with five RBIs in 30 games with the A’s this season.

Daric Barton is merely the latest in a long list of high draft choices that baseball executives continually try to justify giving chance after chance to, when the results dictate otherwise.

Oakland sports a 25-16 record and has won six of its last seven games going into its series against the Indians. On Friday night, Sonny Gray (4-1, 2.13 ERA) is on the mound for the A’s, while the Tribe counters with Zach McAllister (3-3, 3.89) in a battle of righthanders.

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants:Giants Blanco stole three and scored three; Sox Abreu bringing up average

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by Michael Duca

Giants update: The Giants are performing up to their own expectations but above other teams right now. Gregor Blanco on Wednesday stole three bases and scored three runs to help the Giants in their 10-4 laugher over the Braves. Blanco had been hitting .150 all season.

The Giants seem to hit good pitching better than they hit bad pitching, and not that the Braves pitcher Mike Minor is not a bad pitcher but he came away with a 4.24 ERA and shut the Giants out on Tuesday. Then you get the Braves pitcher Julio Teheran whose ERA is 2.20 on Wednesday.

Teheran got lit up on Wednesday and threw for 40 pitches in the first innning and Blanco walked and stole two bases and came home and wound up stealing a third base later in the game and that set the tone. They were going to be as miserably hot and still as energy sapping as it was yesterday the Giants had the plan to be patient, and grinding it out their at bats they just didn’t impose their will on the Braves on Wednesday.

The Giants have beaten the Braves five out six games this year and the Giants can gaurantee that when the season is over nobody would have done that.

A’s update: The White Sox won their first game at the Colisuem on Wednesday for the first time since 2012. The Sox complied a seven game loss streak against the A’s in Coliseum visits but ended it with a 4-2 win. The Sox Jose Abreu has been making big contact with the ball of late and hit out his 15th to help beat the A’s.

The Sox brought this kid out of Cuba and their are 29 other teams that are seeing Abreu and wondering “why didn’t we go get this guy?” He already in the short span of a month and half has 15 home runs. Abreu loves hittting at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago because it’s a hitters ball park.

The way the Sox won in Oakland on Wednesday was not cheap it was a three run shot and Abreu hit it up the staircase in left field and help give the Sox a two run win. Abreu has just shown that there is really no adjustment period for him in the show. He learned how Major League pitchers are going to pitch him, Abreu has not scuffled or struggled at all at the plate he’s now hitting .271.

Michael Duca covers the A’s and Giants for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kerr chosen as new W’s coach

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By George Devine, Sr.

After days of speculation following the firing of Mark Jackson, the Golden State Warriors have selected Steve Kerr as their new head coach.

Kerr, a TNT analyst, has not been a head coach before, but the decision appears to be based on his knowledge of basketball’s X’s and O’s, a factor which some say was a weak spot for Jackson.

Golden State was not the only suitor for Kerr’s services. He was reported to have had talks with the New York Knicks, but the Warriors prevailed with a five-year, $25-million dollar contract. Other incentives to Kerr’s acceptance of the job include the success the Dubs had in the season just past, the talent available on the team, and his friendship with owner Joe Lacob and president Rick Welts. In addition, depending on the timing, he may get to be the coach that would christen a new Warriors’ arena in downtown San Francisco.

Giants as hot as the weather in 10-4 rout of the Braves

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By Morris Phillips

When it’s 87 degrees at first pitch along McCovey Cove, you can bet the 25 guys in the third base dugout, manager and coaches are on alert: Giants’ hitters know to try to launch one, and Giants’ pitchers are well aware that they if they elevate, they could give up something cheap.

With the warm, still air conducive to offense, and from the perspective of the starting pitchers, Madison Bumgarner was able to slow it down just enough, while the Braves’ Julio Teheran couldn’t quite get his grip on the issue.

Both pitchers faced 22 batters, but Teheran had issues gripping the ball, walked five, got taken deep by Hunter Pence and only lasted 3 1/3 innings.  Bumgarner allowed seven hits and walked one, but he kept the ball in the park, and was the last guy standing when he left after five innings with a 5-4 lead.

“They got another lead and I was doing my dangdest to keep it for them,” Bumgarner said in his familiar drawl.

After that, three San Francisco relievers were near perfect, while the offense added on—two runs in the fifth, one run in the sixth and one in the eighth—in a 10-4 win over the Braves on Wednesday.

“They just kept coming.  One of those days were they just kept tacking on runs,” Braves’ infielder Chris Johnson said.

The Giants captured five of six from the Braves in the last two weeks, and the two playoff hopefuls are done seeing each other in 2014 unless it happens in the post-season.  That’s life in today’s MLB where each team plays an unwieldy 20 separate opponents.  One thing’s certain: the Giants will look at the stretch as a real positive going forward, while the Braves will undoubtedly see it as low point.

Through 39 games, Atlanta’s offense has produced a major-league second-to-worst 122 runs.  Three days in hot San Francisco was an improvement, just not a significant one. The Braves scored 11 runs, but just one in the first eight innings on Monday–mostly against a resurgent Tim Lincecum–and none in the final five frames Wednesday, when the Giants’ hot bullpen took hold. Atlanta hitters struck out a whopping 32 times in the series, and that undoubtedly led directly to frustrated B.J. Upton’s ejection by home plate umpire Lance Barrett in the sixth inning after the outfielder struck out for the third time.

Teheran’s issues with holding on to the baseball are simply hard to grasp. They led to five walks, with the Columbian-born pitcher saying that dry weather—not humid weather—in San Francisco and Los Angeles affects his grip.  Offensively, Jason Heyward (.205) and B.J. Upton (.212) have really struggled with the bats.  Half the Braves’ projected pitching staff have battled injuries, with Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen to miss the entire season.  On top of all that, the Braves have won just five times in 15 games since April 29.

Meanwhile, the Giants have won 15 of 20 are starting to cook in a competitive NL West.  Their lead grew to 3 ½ games on Wednesday as the Rockies lost 3-2 in Kansas City with the Dodgers four back prior to their game Wednesday night against the Marlins.

The Giants 49 home runs (three—Pence, Brandon Crawford and Michael Morse—on Wednesday) in 41 games have been a revelation, but the revolving door of daily heroes may be the biggest factor.  Gregor Blanco jumped off the Giants’ bench and into a start in center field in place of an ailing Angel Pagan and got a hit, walked twice, and stole three bases and scored three times.  The three steals, three runs combo hadn’t been accomplished by a Giant since 1991 when Darren Lewis did it.

Reliever Jean Machi continued to heighten his profile as well by pitching two, scoreless innings, lowering his microscopic ERA to 0.44.

Bumgarner won for the fifth time in 2014, and the young lefty already six seasons into his big league career continued a positive trend.  After allowing a career-worst 23 home runs in 208 innings in 2012, the North Carolina native has thrown just 20 gopher balls in 254 innings since.  Bumgarner had given up at least one long ball in three of his four previous starts.

In that same stretch, Teheran has thrown 247 innings and allowed 30 home runs, a blemish on the outstanding start to the 23-year old pitcher’s career.  This was the shortest start of Teheran’s career and the five walks tied a career-high.

On Thursday at 7:15pm, the Giants welcome the Marlins for four games with Matt Cain—still looking for his first win in 2014—facing Miami’s Nathan Eovaldi.

NOTE: Giants’ third basemen Pablo Sandoval left the game in the sixth, hobbling on a sore toe on his left foot.  Manager Bruce Bochy said he didn’t think Sandoval would miss any time all but penciling him in to Thursday’s starting lineup.

White Sox, Abreu Snap A’s Six-Game Winning Streak

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BY PAUL GACKLE

OAKLAND — Jose Abreu smacked an eighth inning three-run home run off the facing of the second deck in left field at O.co Coliseum, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the Oakland A’s on Wednesday.

With his 15th home run of the season, which leads all of baseball, Abreu helped the White Sox snap the A’s season-high six-game winning streak.

“He’s something special,” A’s starting pitcher Tommy Milone said, referring to Abreu. “Any kind of mistake that you throw to him, it seems like he’s going to hit a home run.”

With the homer, Abreu joined Wally Berger, Kevin Maas and Wally Joyner as the only players in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 15 home runs in their first 42 career games.

The A’s carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth after another stellar outing from Milone, the fifth starter in the A’s rotation. Milone surrendered only one run — a home run to second baseman Gordon Beckham on the first pitch of the game — over six innings of work, following up his eight innings of shutout baseball against the Washington Nationals on May 9.

Eight days ago, the fourth and fifth starters in the A’s rotation — Milone and Dan Straily — had a combined record of 1-5 with a 5.40 ERA. In the last week, the back-end of the rotation — with Drew Pomeranz pitching in place of Straily — is 3-0 with a 0.38 ERA.

“Drew’s really given us a spark and Tommy, the last few times out, has been as good as we’ve seen him over the last couple of years,” Manager Bob Melvin said.

John Jaso responded to Beckham’s long ball with a leadoff home run of his own in the bottom of the first inning, tying the score at 1-1. The A’s added to the lead in the fourth when Josh Donaldson hit his team-leading ninth home run of the season, the third solo shot of the day.

But the bullpen coughed up the lead in the eighth after Beckham and Conor Gillaspie picked up singles off lefty reliever Fernando Abad (0-1) and Abreu took Luke Gregerson deep with a rocket shot to left.

Gregerson leads baseball with five blown saves this season.

“He made a pitch to the middle of the plate to a real-good hitter who’s been hot,” Melvin said, adding: “His stuff’s still good.”

Four White Sox pitchers — Andre Rienzo, Scott Downs, Ronald Belisario and Matt Lindstrom — combined to hold the A’s to just three hits in the contest.

Melvin said he expects outfielder Coco Crisp, who’s missed the last seven games with a strained neck, to return to the lineup at some point during the A’s series with the Cleveland Indians, which kicks off on Friday.

Larry Leavitt on the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Ducks could put away Kings tonite;Hawks move to third round;Canadiens tough task in Boston;Rangers set for next round

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by Larry Leavitt

Anaheim vs. Los Angeles: The Ducks are playing all the right cards right now, they’ve put in this new goaltender John Gibson who gets the shutout in his first game in game four for a 2-0 win and then does really well in his second game in game five with a 4-3 win. The pucks are really bouncing well for the Ducks after being down 2-0 they have come back on the Kings to push them to the brink 3-2.,

Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau is looking really smart with this goalie change, and it has the Ducks Mathieu Perreault saying about Boudreau “(he) makes us believe.” The first game the Kings goalie Jonathan Quick got really lucky in the in the 3-2 OT win and there was a lot of open net and the Ducks weren’t able to bury the puck.

It’s not they didn’t deserve to win but they sure had a lot of lucky bounces against the Ducks in those first two games to win. On any given night any team can beat each other, it’s as simple as that, the talent is there obviously for the Kings. The determination is there it’s the break and the bounce of the puck and it’s not from a lack of trying. Niether of these teams are giving up and who knows this can turn into a seven game series.

Minnesota vs. Chicago: The Wild who were eliminated on Tuesday night by the Blackhawks in the series 4-2 and you have to give the Wild credit the Wild were more gutsy, they played hard. There’s a lot of borderline history with the Wild and Hawks and there is so much history. It’s hard to continually to defend that team and Chicago came out and showed their strength.

Montreal vs. Boston: This is one of the most exciting two teams in the playoffs that were going to see. There is no doubt in my mind, the Bruins fought hard and had a lot of zone time in game six but Montreal really wanted that game and won it on a 4-0 shutout and really hunger and drive put all their effort into it.

There was a lot of chippiness at the end, the Bruins were trying to intimidate the Candadiens and send them a little message “come to our house in Boston, the next game isn’t going to be as easy as you think” the officials are going to call a tighter game and nobody wants to get into penalty trouble in a game seven where one goal can be the difference in your season.

It’s hopeful that calmer heads prevail and they have a good game and that the cheapshots are done with and in game seven it’s going to a clean game and it will be all about the winner of the series. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price got pretty lucky as a couple of shots hit the post and a goalie’s best friend is when the shot goes upwards instead of outwards and doesn’t go in.

NY Rangers vs. Penguins: The Penguins really imploded somewhat in the same way the Sharks did, the Pens had a 3-1 series lead get away and the Rangers won games five, six and seven to win the series. The difference was the Pens captain Sydney Crosby who was totally drawn off his game he was thrown off as far as the punishment he was taking in the shots and he was not handling it well.

Crosby was retailiating and his teammates were retaliating and once they got Crosby and the Pens going they took them out of their game. The Penguins were never back in this series after game four’s loss. The Rangers played a very strong game right around the death of the Rangers Martin St.Louis’ mother around Mother’s day.

The Rangers rallied around St.Louis and they played it for him in the game seven win 2-1 over the Pens. St.Louis was kind of a spark for a team that really didn’t need a spark. It was just a little added attention and it doesn’t surprise that the Rangers that extra push was made for St.Louis and for the series clincher.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Even with a LeBron boycott it will be legally difficult to kick out Sterling

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–LeBron James said on Wednesday that he will not play next season if the LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling refuses to sell the team. It gives this story a really interesting angle as LeBron is the biggest star in the universe not only in the NBA but in all sports. I really don’t understand this and I really think they should let things go the way their going to go.

Sterling apologized in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN but this is headed to being litagated and Sterling’s wife whose part owner of the team is also planning to fight and will not relinquish her share of the team. This story has a lot of legs and LeBron saying he won’t play won’t help the situation. The NBA has more tapes of Sterling talking and they have more proof.

Regarding the NBA by laws and that Sterling violated a lot of them and if that’s the case he might have to sell. I have written and have spoken on the radio and said I don’t think he should be forced to sell, I don’t think a person that owns the team can be forced to sell because he’s a racist. The NBA has proof of what he said and that they want him out.

LeBron James doesn’t help matters by saying he’ll boycott next season but no matter Sterling is going to fight and the Clippers are a private enterprise, it’s their business and they pay their taxes and they haven’t committed any crimes and they can’t take their business away. I never heard of that, that’s not the laws of this country but again the NBA by laws might have teeth and they might know something that people don’t know.

LeBron is just reacting right now, yes everybody wants Sterling out but it may not be enough legally because everybody like you and I want him out and they might try to force him to sell and that’s another story and it’s going to the courts and it will be settled there.

Magic Johnson has had his share of air time in the Sterling controversy, and Magic says he wants to buy the Clippers. Why does Magic need to get involved with another team ? Magic knows he’s huge in L.A. and he owns a chain of Magic Theaters and he’s part owner of the Dodgers.

I don’t know what Magic needs? Does he need the limelight that much? Is his ego that big? I’m starting to worry about all these guys who want to buy the Clippers and boxer Oscar DeLaHoya wants to buy the Clippers too. This whole thing is becoming a circus.

Sterling is being ridiculized in the court of public opinon and half of this country is against him. Still isn’t that enough to make Sterling sell the team? We’re going to have to let it play out in the court of law. Legally I don’t think they can make him sell the team in that case it would set a legal presidence.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice of Oakland A’s baseball and does News and Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservie.com