June 2014 – Page 12 – Sports Radio Service

Two Homer Night for Cespedes Puts A’s in Line for Sweep Over Yankees

Published on June 5, 2014June 5, 2014 by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics won their fifth-straight contest, coming from behind to beat the New York Yankees 7-4 at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night. Yoenis Cespedes mashed a pair of home runs to support starter Jesse Chavez (5-3, 3.04 ERA) while Josh Donaldson’s solo shot in the seventh inning provided the game-winning run. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth inning for his seventh save of the season to put Oakland (37-22) one win away from sweeping the Yankees.

The Yankees (29-29) scored all their runs in the bottom of the third inning with Derek Jeter lacing an run-scoring single and Jacoby Ellsbury ripping a three-run home run to right center field for a 4-0 off Chavez. Cespedes put the A’s on the board with a deep fly to center off pinstripes starter Vidal Nuno in the top of the fourth, then pounded his twelve four-bagger of reliever Matt Daley top open the sixth. Jed Lowrie and Alberto Callaspo also hit a sac fly each for the A’s to set up Donaldson’s go-ahead knock.

After Donaldson tagged Jose Ramirez (0-1, 4.50) with the loss for his team-best 16th homer of the season, the A’s picked up a pair of runs in the ninth. First came a bases loaded hit-by-pitch by Brandon Moss who played right field Wednesday for the first time since exiting Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with an injury. Kyle Blanks added the third sacrifice fly of the night for the visitors for the 7-4 final tally.

Chavez went six innings for the green and gold, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Fernando Abad pitched a third of an inning for the A’s in relief of Chavez, but Dan Otero did the heavy lifting with 1 2/3 scoreless innings before turning the ninth inning over to Doolittle.

The A’s send Drew Pomeranz to the mound in his first start since the Angels snapped his string of solid outings. The Halos roughed Pomeranz up for five runs after the lefty allowed only two in his previous 19 innings as a starter. He draws the assignment of facing Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees marquee free-agent signing of the offseason.

New York earned the right to sign Tanaka after paying a posting fee of $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan, the maximum in the new posting fee implemented this offseason. Under the new reals, any team that posts the highest bid is allowed to negotiate with the player, meaning the Yankees then had to outbid numerous other teams who matched the fee to sign the international sensation to a seven-year, $155 million contract. The 25-year-old is 8-1 on the season with 88 punchouts over 78.2 innings and a stellar 2.06 ERA.

Giants storm back to victory

Published on June 4, 2014 by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

After falling behind early, the Giants roared back with an offensive explosion to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat Wednesday night, as they downed the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2, at the Great American Ball Park.

Starter Ryan Vogelsong was cruising along in the third inning, until third baseman Todd Frazier hammered a mistake fastball and sent it just inside the foul pole into the left-field bleachers to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

The Reds increased their lead immediately following the homer with back-to-back doubles, the scoring hit coming from Jay Bruce, who knocked in Brandon Phillips. That’s when pitching coach Dave Righetti paid Vogelsong a visit to give a pep talk.

The talk must have worked, since the right-hander did not give up a single run after that. He ended up going 6 1/3 innings and gave up only those two runs while striking out nine batters and walked only one.

In the process, he did what Giants starters usually do. He kept his team in the game with a realistic chance to win. In the sixth inning, his bats came through for him and allowed him to pick up the win.

Once again, the Giants’ rally came with two outs, which is really starting to become their calling card this year. Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval were quickly retired to begin the inning, but Michael Morse, who is having a monster season thus far, launched a solo homer into the left-field seats.

Brandon Hicks followed that with a single, and left fielder Juan Perez quickly capitalized on the opportunity and deposited another deposit into those bleachers in left to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

The Giants are also building a reputation of having a shutdown bullpen, and that was again on display on Wednesday. After Vogelsong departed in the seventh, Juan Gutierrez, Javier Lopez, Jean Machi and closer Sergio Romo combined to give up a single baserunner, which was a result of a fielding error in the bottom of the eighth.

That baserunner was wiped out two batters later when Machi got Devin Mesoraco to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The two teams will play the rubber game Thursday afternoon.

Stanley Cup Final: LA Wins Game 1 in OT

Published on June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

The Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers in the first game of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, with an overtime goal from Justin Williams. To keep the score tied at two after three periods, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had to be much better than Kings goalie Jonathan Quick in this first meeting. The Rangers stayed neck and neck with the Kings through two periods, but in the third New York was overwhelmed, only getting three shots to the Kings’ 20.

It is only one game in a best of seven series, but since the NHL went to a seven game format for the Stanley Cup playoffs, the winner of the first game has won the Cup 77% of the time. That makes it far from a certainty that the Kings will win this. There is that 23% of the time to cling to, but it bodes ill for New York.

The New York Rangers looked ready to start the Stanley Cup Final with an upset of the Los Angeles Kings. Rick Nash, in particular, started out with a lot of energy and a few good chances. Nash did not open the scoring though. Instead, midway through the first period, Benoit Pouliot scored on a breakaway facilitated by a Drew Doughty giveaway. Less than two minutes later, Carl Hagelin scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-0.

The Rangers, far from looking rusty after a six day break, looked crisper than the Kings. Turnovers were coming fast and furious in the New York’s favor, but the Rangers were still outshot through the first half of the period. The Kings came back with an end-of-period goal from Kyle Clifford. It was Clifford’s first in 67 games.

The tying goal came six minutes in to the second period. Drew Doughty carried the puck past Derek Dorsett, sheltering it between his skates, and put a shot past Lundqvist. There were two Kings and a Ranger on the edge of the blue paint, crowding the Rangers netminder but not quite screening the shot.

Not long after, Derick Brassard put Kings’ captain Dustin Brown into the boards and the Kings went on a power play. The Kings did not convert on that opportunity. They even looked disorganized and overmatched against the Rangers’ penalty killers.

The Rangers finished the second period on a power play after Mike Richards was called for a high stick. They did not score but it left them with some seconds of a man advantage to start the third period.

Those seconds did not do much for the Rangers. Eight minutes in to the third, the Rangers had no shots on goal to the Kings’ 11. The Kings maintained an enormous shot advantage through the third period. With under two minutes left, the Kings went on the power play. Ironically, the Kings had no shots in any of their three power plays to that point. They got a couple of shots off before the buzzer, as did Carl Hagelin, going the other way short handed.

The teams looked pretty evenly matched for the four minutes that overtime lasted. Each team had two shots when Justin Williams ended it. Dan Girardi gave the puck away in a failed clearing attempt, and Tanner Pearson sent the puck back in to Williams. The game winner went over Lundqvist’s left shoulder, into the top corner.

The teams meet again on Saturday at 4 pm, again in Los Angeles.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:Relievers are made and also unmade

Published on June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–In his first year in the majors,(1995) Panamanian-born right handed hurler Mariano Rivera pitched in 19 games for the New York Yankees, starting in 10 of those, finishing the season with a 5-3 record and a 5.51 earned run average. After that he never started another game for the next 18 years, finishing his career with 652 games saved in relief, the all-time leader.

Mariano’s first pitching coach in the minor leagues with the Gulf Coast Yankees was Hoyt Wilheim, the great Hall of Fame knuckleballer specialist. As a young kid growing up in Havana, Cuba, I remember Wilheim when he pitched for the Leones del Habana(Havana Lions)in the old Cuban Professional Winter League, in the late 1950’s and then remember him pitch in the major leagues with the Chicago White Sox.

Hoyt Wilheim was the first ever reliever elected to the Hall of Fame. Mariano Rivera made a Hall of Fame career with basically one pitch, a great cutter.

2.Dennis Eckersley started his career in the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians in 1975 as a starter. Ecksersley pitched for Boston and won 20 games in 1978, 17 in 1979 and when he arrived in Oakland in 1987 he had visions of continuing his career as a starter.

However, that year after starting 2 games and relieving in 52, he saved 16. He would never start another game in his life with the Oakland Athletics. He retired after the 1998 season, saved a total of 390 games and was inducted with his number 43 to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2004.

In 1987 Tony LaRussa was on his second year as manager of the Oakland Athletics and his right hand, pitching coach Dave Duncan converted Eckersley to the closer position.

And such is the history of most relievers today, known as “closers”because they get the ball to pitch in the ninth inning exclusively,(in some rare occasions managers would bring their closers in the eighth inning for an out or two).

3-Jim Johnson started his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 and would pitch for them until 2011 and in those six seasons saved a total of 20 games. In 2012 he saved 51 games for the Orioles and 52 the next season.

Today Jim Johnson is fighting for his job with the Oakland Athletics, who acquired him with the purpose of closing their games. Johnson has appeared in 22 games with the A’s this 2014 season, has saved 2 games, won 3 lost 2, all with a 6.55 earned run average.

The Oakland A’s are so deep in pitching that even losing two of their regular rotation starters, Jerrod Parker and A.J Griffin and basically “losing “their closer, a man that saved 101 games last two years, still have the best record in the American League as they opened on Tuesday a ten game in ten days road trip to New York, Baltimore and Anaheim. The majority of teams today, could not lose two of their five pitchers in a rotation(including the number one)and still survive and even be in first place.

In today’s baseball, and since a complete game from a starter is almost “Breaking News”, a closer is necessary to win and make it to the postseason. Obviously the Oakland Athletics still hope that Johnson can be the closer he was in Baltimore; at least the A’s have the luxury to “figure this out”while they are in first place, which makes this much easier.

If the A’s lost all hope for Johnson, management has not said it publicly; one third of the season just concluded, the A’s have time to figure this one out, since there are still over 100 games this season. Who knows, Johnson can still end the season with another 50 saves. Of course for him to do that he must get the ball in save situations.

Action speaks louder than words, and the A’s are not giving Johnson the opportunity of closing these days. If this continues, I expect Billy Beane to work a deal for Johnson before the July trade deadline. What else can the A’s do?

A friend told me: Why not try him as a starter? Yes, sure, and the Chicago Cubs will also win the World Series this year!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Vice President of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Brandon Moss Homer In Extras Sparks A’s 5-2 Victory Over Yankees

Published on June 4, 2014 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

New York –

“That’s typical Oakland A’s baseball.”

This sentiment said by A’s reliever Sean Doolittle after the A’s defeated the Yankees 5-2 in 10 innings is something most Oakland fans are used too. The A’s always seem to find a way to squeeze out a win even in the most hostile of territories like Yankee Stadium. “The way the guys were swinging in the 10th inning, it was like they could smell the victory and found a way to get it done,” continues Doolittle. Brandon Moss belted his second homer of the game and Jed Lowrie and Kyle Blanks each earned a RBI in the top of the 10th to give the A’s the victory in extra innings.

Starting pitch Scott Kazmir went 6 1/3 and struck out 10 batters and only walked a pair of batters but didn’t last long enough to land the victory. Dan Otero (5-1) came in the ninth and only surrendered one hit and earned his fifth victory of the year. Sean Doolittle only needed 13 pitches to earn his sixth save of the year.

“I had been swinging the bat well tonight, so I knew they’d probably be careful, and it’s just one of those at-bats you’re battling, trying to get a good pitch to hit or get on base, and I ended up getting a hanging slider on a 3-2 count,” said Brandon Moss on hit night tonight. “Obviously any home run feels good, but in an extra-inning game, 2-2, it feels really good.”

After an hour long rain delay, the Yankees struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Mark Teixeira singled to right field and scored Brett Gardner who was already on second and made it 1-0 game. The A’s waited until the fifth inning to join in the scoring when Moss hit his first homer of the evening and tied the game at 1-1. The Yankees got the lead back in the sixth inning on a Teixeira homer to left center field and made it a 2-1 game with three innings left.

Pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt hit a game tying double in the eighth off of Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances with two outs in the eighth inning to push the game into extra innings.

In the 10th, Moss hit his second homer of the night and Lowrie and Banks drove in runs to make it a 5-2 victory for the A’s.

The A’s and Yankees head back at it tomorrow when Jesse Chavez (4-3) goes up against Vidal Nuno (1-2), game time 4:05 PM PST.

Warriors at Mission Bay: Prop B height limits wins by a wide margin no new buildings unless voters approve

Published on June 3, 2014June 4, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

San Francisco Proposition B the measure that restricts any new construction and buildings on San Francisco’s Waterfront won by 18 points 59 percent to 41 percent and will only allow new construction for buildings over 40 feet unless voters approve. If the measure had lost the San Francisco Giants who wanted to build condos and retail on Parking Lot A at AT&T Park would have more than likely been able to proceed with construction with little interference. Ideas for new construction would have been able to move forward without the public’s approval.

The measure was reported losing after polls closed at 7:00PM and there was not much hope for a Prop B defeat after absentee ballots were all counted at the close of the polls. Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos who campaigned for Prop B and was saying all along that height limits would protect the beauty of the Waterfront Embarcadero and also would give the city those traditional views of the bay, the Mayor Willie Brown Bay Bridge, and the greater East Bay.

The Golden State Warriors who originally wanted to build their dream arena at Piers 30-32 and realized that the Waterfront neighborhood didn’t want the NBA team as a new neighbor with the new arena and a tower of condos, hotels and retail and later settled for some Mission Bay property where they’ll build a new arena. The new arena at Mission Bay was met with virtually no opposition from Agnos or the Sierra Club.

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

Shotty defense costs Giants

Published on June 3, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

By Jeremy Kahn

One of the mainstays that helped the San Francisco Giants into first place in the National League West is their defense, but on this night, it failed them.

The Giants committed a season-high four errors, including two on throwing errors by catcher Hector Sanchez, as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Giants 8-3 at Great American Ballpark.

Returning to a place that he witnessed his opponent Homer Bailey throw a no-hitter on July 2, 2013, Tim Lhincecum last just four and one-thirds innings, allowing eight runs on six hits, walking three and striking out three, as he lost again in the regular season at Great American Ballpark, a stadium he is winless in during his career.

Bailey went six innings, in his first game against the Giants since that historical night and allowed three runs on five hits, with three of those hits coming off the bat of Hunter Pence, who hit a home run, double and single.

Pence gave the Giants a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as he took a Bailey offering and planted it into the left field seats for his eighth home run of the season.

That would be the lead for all of one-half inning, as Lincecum was unable to hold the lead, as Billy Hamilton stole third and then scored on a throwing error by Lincecum.

Jay Bruce doubled to right field to score Todd Frazier with the eventual winning run, and then Devin Mesoraco hit a two-run home run that put the game to put the Reds up by three runs after one inning.

Joaquin Arias hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead in half in the top of the second inning, and then Pablo Sandoval got the Giants within one with a sacrifice fly of his own in the top of the third.

Unfortunately that would be as close as the Giants would get, as Brandon Phillips hit a two-run double to score Hamilton and Frazier to give the Reds their second three-run lead of the night.

Bruce added another RBI in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he singled in Phillips and then Brayan Pena put the finishing touches on the scoring ,as he hit into a Fielder’s Choice to score Bruce.

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants;Comparisons of 74 A’s to 02 Moneyball team;If Giants Morse can get healthy he can be a big bopper

Published on June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michael Duca

Oakland A’s update: It’s pretty simple and straight forward that 40 years ago when the 1974 Oakland A’s won their third and final straight championship. Author Michael Lewis who wrote Moneyball would have been eight years old and it wouldn’t have been pretty much of a book to read if your comparing the 1974 A’s versus the 2002 team who won 20 straight games that season. You can’t write something until you get the idea and develop the idea.

I’m not sure it would have made a lot of sense for Lewis who spent a full year at the Coliseum and survived sitting with us over on the broadcasters side in the press box for a full season and still managed to write coherently about the subject. You can’t you do that about a team that played 25-27 years earlier. Your going to get unfortunately and it is human nature, the 1974 team is gonna feel like they were slighted. The 74 team held a reunion at the Colisuem last Saturday night.

That 74 team feels slighted because they didn’t get the credit that they desereved when things aren’t done the same way, that they didn’t get the credit that they deserved no matter what because there simply wasn’t the credit to be given then. Baseball was on TV on Saturday hence NBC’s Baseball game of the week. The local broadcast package was not something that the A’s had.

The 74 A’s never had a chance to get the recongnition that the teams do today, people who know baseball know that dynasty who won three straight World Series. The 74 A’s is as good a group of baseball players as anyone alive today has seen, because nobody alive today would remember those great Yankees teams from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Most of us didn’t see them and can’t because there’s no TV clips from those days.

SF Giants update: Michael Morse the Giants outfielder’s key is to stay healthy, he’s been interupted by nagging irritating injuries for large portions of his career and I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t know the reason for that any better than anyone else or he would have avoided them. It’s not that Morse is a reckless player.

Morse doesn’t do the head first slide that put the Rockies Nolan Arenado on the disabled list for six weeks, he plays the game the right way, he plays the game striaght up but manages to get hurt a lot. If Morse can stay healthy he could end up hitting 25-27 home runs, he can drive in over 100 runs. Morse can be a linchpin for the team.

It will be surprising if Morse can make the All-Star team simply because there’s that silly requirment that every team has to have a player on the team. Your going to wind up usually taking a good outfielder from a bad team and there’s usually three or four bad teams and that pretty much fills up your outfield bench. So guys who don’t get voted in, in the first three outfielders, you usually see a significant drop off in talent once you get past them.

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

Giants’ favorable schedule before All-Star break begins with the Reds

Published on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

Yesterday, one run turned into four when St. Louis’ Kolten Wong botched a double play grounder off Gregor Blanco’s bat. With that bit of assistance, the Giants waltzed to an 8-0 win over the Cardinals to capture three of the four games in the weekend series.

From good fortune and capable offense to shut-down pitching, the Giants are on a roll. At 37-20, the Giants possess the major’s best record and its’ biggest division lead at 7 ½ games over the Dodgers with their rivals’ game pending on Monday evening.

So with the Giants on a roll, there couldn’t be a better time for the team to test its luck. With that in mind, a trip to Cincinnati and a date with staff ace Homer Bailey couldn’t provide a better test.

The Giants have dropped 10 of their last 11 regular season games in the Reds’ Great American Ballpark and last July 2 they were no-hit by Bailey there. Even for a team currently residing in the clouds without a worry on the horizon, this represents quite a test.

And that’s before the bad taste in the collective mouths of the Reds over the 2012 Divisional Series is factored in. The Reds returned home in that series up 2-0 only to drop three straight to the Giants on their home turf. Cincinnati went home, and the Giants went on to win the World Series.

The Reds may be happy to see the Giants, but recent results don’t suggest that the NL Central’s third place team will be ready to pounce. The Reds have scored the second-fewest runs in all of baseball and just a .500 team (12-12) in their ballpark. Just as importantly, Joey Votto, Cincinnati’s all-everything slugger, is suffering through an off-season, and is currently on the disabled list with a balky quad muscle.

Of course, the Giants are currently without Matt Cain, Michael Morse and just got Buster Posey back. If momentum decides Tuesday’s matchup as well as the series, then Giants’ should be okay with starter Tim Lincecum, on the hill. Lincecum pitched no-hit ball into the fifth inning in his last start against the Cubs at AT&T Park. But Bailey’s a Giant killer, having posted a 2-0 record against San Francisco in six career starts.

Bailey hasn’t been lights out though: his 5.04 ERA would suggest he’s a ways away from repeating his no-hit feat on Tuesday.

For the Giants, no time is better than the present to increase their NL West lead to the breaking point, only two of San Francisco’s remaining nine opponents—Cardinals and A’s—before the All-Star break currently have winning records.

Athletics Call-up for Vogt a Requirement, Reward

Published on June 2, 2014 by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

When the Oakland Athletics broke camp in March, they did so leaving behind third-string catcher Stephen Vogt. The omission of Vogt came as no surprise. It was a difficult decision, and Vogt may well have been the last player left off the roster, but he feel victim to the numbers crunch. In the offseason, General manager Billy Beane acquired left-handed hitting John Jaso to compliment righty Derek Norris. Jaso, a prototypical Athletic if ever there was one, gets on base, works well inserted in and out of the line-up and provides some sock of the bench. His arrival rendered Vogt, a lefty himself, superfluous despite any goodwill the unlikely hero earned by hitting a walk-off single in game two of the ALDS against Detroit last season. No, not even Vogt’s strong Spring campaign capped by a .364 batting average and three long balls could earn a spot over a player like Daric Barton or Sam Fuld when March turned to April and the dozens of players in big league camp were whittled down to 25 Athletics.

Fast forward to June 1st and you’ll see the name of a baseball battler penciled into the sixth spot on Bob Melvin’s line-up card in what would be a 6-3 Oakland win. Vogt, a veteran of eight minor league seasons, went 0-for-4 for the green but despite a rocky 2014 debut, the 29-year-old backstop returns to the A’s with confidence.

Certainly, Vogt’s promotion from Triple A came out of necessity. AL West-leading Oakland opens a three-game set at Yankee Stadium with question marks surrounding the health of starting right fielder Josh Reddick (hyperextended right knee) and clean-up hitter Brandon Moss (strained right calf). Vogt’s presence allows Jaso to split time at designated hitter in Moss’ stead while not surrendering the platoon advantage against right-handers (of which Oakland will see in two-of-three games in the Bronx). Vogt, a veteran with over 50 games of experience at first, catcher and left field, also provides some depth in the outfield and first base while granting Derek Norris some relief behind the dish.

The call-up, as brief or as long as it can be, also serves as the carrot on a string, the reward for Vogt’s impressive start with the River Cats. At the time of his promotion, Vogt had an impressive .364/.412/.602 line (including a .413 average against right-handers) with Sacramento, building on his 2013 Pacific Coast League All-star campaign in which he hit .324 with 13 home runs. For a baseball lifer, a nomad who has toiled away in baseball outposts like Durham, Hudson Valley and Charlotte, a taste of the Show every now and then is enough to labor away on the long bus rides for months on end.

The A’s are expected to activate reliever Ryan Cook from the disabled list, possibly as early as Tuesday, meaning a corresponding roster move must be made. Depending on the long-term outlook for Reddick, Vogt could be optioned back down to Sacramento to make room for the reliever. If he’s a casualty once again of the numbers game, he’ll at least take with him a peace of mind that his performance won’t go unnoticed. If Vogt continues to hit Pacific League pitching, the Oakland brass will almost undoubtedly beckon him back to the bright lights of the Bigs before season’s end.