Month: June 2014

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: In the Southland their raising the roof for the Kings in the finals

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–It is hard to believe that the Los Angeles Kings won in that seventh game on Sunday night in Chicago. The San Jose Sharks who had the Kings on the ropes in round one and lost in four don’t want to hear that. I hate to say this because I live in the Bay Area although I work in L.A. but there is something to be said about this but it looks like the stars are aligned for the Kings.

The Kings might go all the way, they have won against all odds and they were on the verge of elimination by the Sharks and here they are and now their going to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings won last in 2012 for the Stanley Cup and they might win it again as they start game one here in L.A. on Wednesday night.

Everything is happening for the Kings, this is what makes sports fascinating, here’s a team that was on the precipice to being eliminated three weeks ago by the Sharks now their going to the big dance. So this might be another L.A.Kings year in 2014. The Kings have more lives than a cat they were almost killed off in each of the three rounds against the Sharks, Ducks, Blackhawks and lived to play in the finals.

Imagine that your on the Kings right now they feel like they can beat anybody right now, bring on the Russian team, bring on the Olympic team, they don’t care, but hopefully they don’t take it to the point of complacency. The Kings right now are the team that feels like if they show up and their going to win.

California Chrome ready for Belmont Preakness: The name California Chrome sounds like a old Chevy Impala and it’s such a great name and I’m not a horse aficionado but I read a lot about it. Now that they’re allowing CA Chrome to wear the breathing strip on the bridge of his nose he looks like he might be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 this Saturday.

There are 40 million people who will either be tuned in on radio or watching this race on Saturday, it will be a widely watched event one of the biggest horse races in recent history. With a name like California Chrome how can you go wrong with a name like that.

When I first heard about CA Chrome’s breathing device you couldn’t help but think do horses go to sleep with that on strip on like humans? I never heard of such a thing but this is the ultimate betting sport and a lot of people’s money is riding on Saturday’s Belmont race and are betting on CA Chrome to win.

By the way I met the jockey for CA Chrome his name is Victor Espinoza and he threw out the first ball at Angels Stadium in Anaheim about a couple weeks ago right after he won the second race. Espinoza is a little guy who is going to be inducted into the Horse Jockey Hall of Fame.

So CA Chrome has a great jockey and a great horse and he has a good chance to win it and it looks like he’s the favorite and should win it barring any surprises for the Triple Crown for California Chrome.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Kings are in survival mode as they open up against Rangers on Wednesday

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by Larry Leavitt

NY Rangers @ Los Angeles: Who’s got the easier schedule? Obviously the Rangers closed out early and are getting healthy while the Kings were in Chicago for their game seven and playing the Chicago Blackhawks during their down time. So if you give the tilt of the scales towards the health side to the Rangers as they’ve been resting and relaxing waiting to find out who beat up each other.

The Kings just completed their third game seven that they won all on the road, their used to this amount of play. The Blackhawks are a very physical team and it didn’t seem like anyone got overly hurt. Of the Hawks and Kings it looked like the Kings were the ones who got the worst of the hits.

The one who got the worst hit was the Kings Drew Doughty, he might have actually reinjured his shoulder. Doughty kept playing but that would be the question mark would Doughty be healthy enough to continue this series? He’s going to play no matter what but don’t be surprised afterwards if he had a shoulder separation or something that was wrong with his shoulder which happened at the end of the season.

The first game will be played Wednesday night at Staples Center in L.A. and the Kings have a tremendous crowd, they’ll be loud, and pulling for the Kings.The Kings are in one of the bigger markets in the U.S. L.A. which behind New York at number two. This is what the NHL wanted as far as getting people to watch and having two big names in it. Most people would say that the west coast teams have the tougher competition and therefore had to go through a lot more to get to the finals.

The Kings in this instance would have the edge as far as their level of play, but those New York Rangers you can’t count them out they’re a good team. The Rangers are peaking at the right time and their playing real well together. It’s a team sport and they are playing well together and are doing the right things.

If you were going to pick who was going to make it on goaltending alone the Rangers Hendrik Lundqvist has been really hot lately and the Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has let some mediocre goals go in and they’ve been really bad. He’s had some good games but not as his standards have been.

Regarding overtime, it’s funny in series one, two and three, you see somebody have a lot of pressure on the offensive zone and your not really worried about it because they got time to react and to recover. Overtime is sudden death and as soon as the goal goes in it’s over. Every time a team was on offensive you were glued to the set because this could be the play.

The Blackhawks looked like they had more offensive zone timing than the Kings did but the Kings got the lucky break and you have to feel sorry for the Hawks goalie Corey Crawford it was not that he couldn’t see the puck. It was deflected in, and he was playing the shot and it got deflected off one of his own players. It happens it’s not Crawford’s fault but it got L.A. into the finals.

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

A’s look like MLB’s best in sweep of Angels

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s could have been full of themselves after sweeping the Angels and increasing their lead in the AL West to 4 ½ games, but instead, they chilled.
And quietly got ready for their road trip back east to see the Yankees and the Orioles.

“We’re best about just individualizing the day, not worried about what happened the day before and give our total effort on a particular day. That’s more our philosophy,” manager Bob Melvin said when asked about the similar subjects of having, gaining or riding momentum.

But while the team with the best record in baseball since Opening Day 2012, and the best record in the American League this season goes about its business, their accomplishments speak for themselves. The A’s have their best season start since 1991 (35-22) after sweeping a MLB-best sixth opponent this season. And the Angels weren’t struggling upon entering the O.co Coliseum on Friday: Anaheim had won 14 of 20 coming in.

Statistically, the A’s couldn’t possibly be more imposing having scored the most runs in baseball (290, better than five runs a game) while its pitching staff has posted a big-league low 2.93 ERA.

And career-long nemesis Jered Weaver stepped to the mound on Sunday with an 8-1 record and 0.87 ERA in his last 11 starts against Oakland, but after cruising through the first two frames, got hit hard in the third. Weaver would surrender 11 hits, six runs while only striking out two in an outing where he saw a lot of prepared, capable hitters in white uniforms.

The A’s as self-assured, front-runners? Yeah, get used to it.

“Obviously, we wish we could’ve played a little bit better,” Weaver said. “As a pitching staff, we know we’re a lot better than what we showed this weekend. Next time we see these guys, I’m pretty sure they’re going to see a different team.”

“We beat them in different fashions,” Melvin recounted. “The first time we swung it pretty good, and then we come back the next night and really added on runs, where at times we have trouble with that. Today was just kind of a clean, well-played baseball game.”

Sonny Gray was a big part of the A’s elite look on Sunday. The gem of the current Oakland rotation wasn’t great, but he was plenty competitive, riding the early 4-0 lead afforded him, then limiting damage before disaster could strike in the fifth. After that, Gray got the A’s into the seventh where the best of a good Oakland bullpen handled the rest.

“Even when you get guys on base and you score some runs, he always finds a way to limit the damage,” Melvin explained when quizzed about Gray. “He never really gives up that big inning.”

Offensively, Josh Donaldson led the way with healthy swing of support from Jed Lowrie. Donaldson had a two-run single in the third, and Lowrie added a RBI single later in the third, and then he hit a solo shot off of Weaver in the fifth to put the A’s up 5-2.

The A’s open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday where Scott Kazmir will face New York’s Hiroki Kuroda.

Offense explodes in finale

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By Jeremy Kahn

Before Tim Hudson even reached the mound for the bottom of the first inning, his teammates gave him a hefty lead and they never looked back.

Joaquin Arias, playing first base after Michael Morse was scratched after hitting a ball off of his foot in batting practice, hit a two-run single and the San Francisco Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 8-0 at Busch Stadium.

This was the Giants fifth win in their last six games and raising their record to a major league best 37-20, while the Cardinals continue to slump after losing four out of their last five.

Hudson allowed just three hits, striking out six and walking just two in seven innings of work, as he raised his record to 6-2 on the season and his earned run average now stands at a mind boggling 1.75, good for second best in the National League.

Buster Posey returned to the lineup after missing the lasty three games with stiffness in his back, and picked up three hits in his first game since Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park against the Chicago Cubs.

It was not a good day for Cardinals starter Lance Lynn at all, as he gave up seven runs on eight hits in just three and one-third innings of work.

The Giants got to Lynn in the first inning, as Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence and Posey singled consecutively to put the visitors on the board afer just three batters.

Gregor Blanco then reached on an error by Kolten Wong, Pence then scored on a groundout, Brandon Hicks then walked to load the bases and then Arias drove in two with a single.

The lead grew to 5-0 in the top of the third inning, as Arias singled for the second time in as many at-bats, Pagan made it 6-0 after a fielders’s choice to score Hicks.

Crawford made it 7-0 after a ground-rule double that scored Posey in the top of the fourth inning, and then Blanco closed out the scoring with a triple in the top of the sixth inning that scored Pablo Sandoval.

NBA Finals report: Expect tight ball games with coaches Pop and Spo with X’s and O’s

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio vs. Miami: At the beginning of this season we were all talking about that great finals last year between the Spurs and the Heat that went seven games and saw the Spurs lose it on a missed shot by Tim Duncan with only seconds left in game seven, giving the Heat their second title in three years for back to back titles.

It was a fantastic series the best in years and the same two teams are back again. The whole season long we thought that the Spurs and Heat were on a collision course and low and behold here they are facing each other again. This should be a great match, you have the Heat’s LeBron James the best player in the game.

You have the Spurs head coach Grep Popovich the best coach in the game and you have one of the best teams in NBA history in the Spurs a team that made the playoffs for 15 straight years. The Spurs have won four titles and they just keep putting together great runs. This is a team that everybody would have thought would have faded by now as Tim Duncan got older.

Just because Duncan is older doesn’t mean he’s not effective and that’s what we’ve seen so far. Popovich has done a great job managing Duncan’s time and allowed him to rest as much as possible for a 39 year old. That has kept Duncan fairly effective here in the late going this season.

You would figure after 82 regular season games, 12 playoff wins, that Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili are all guys who have been around the block a few times. They might be a little bit tired but no, these guys are still playing great basketball and more importantly their getting contributions from other players on this team.

Most notably Kawhi Leonard who has just been fantastic for the Spurs, your really seeing him come into his own this year which is exactly what the Spurs needed to continue being one of the top teams this year. On the flip side of the ball the Heat what can you say about LeBron that hasn’t already been said. The guy’s the best player in the league, even though he didn’t win the MVP this year.

The Heat’s Dwayne Wade has been very good, Chris Bosh has been coming on as of late, and they have a great supporting cast that really knows their role and Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra doesn’t get the high praise that Popovich does but you don’t make four finals in the row without being a good coach. It’s be a series of strategy and skill and Spoelstra and Popovich will be those wizards behind the Heat and Spurs curtains.

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

A’s power past the Angels behind Cespedes’ arm and bat

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By Morris Phillips

Offensively and especially defensively, Yoenis Cespedes put his imprint on the A’s 11-3 rout of the Angels.

Hitting fourth in place of the injured Brandon Moss, Cespedes doubled, tripled and hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning. The Cuban slugger also threw out two base runners at home plate in the second inning. With each great play, the sellout crowd at the O.co Coliseum roared its approval of Cespedes.

“No doubt about it. He just becomes a different player,” manager Bob Melvin said of the effect of the home crowd’s cheering on Cespedes.

With each great play, the A’s reversed the tide of the Angels 3-0 lead that came on Collin Cowgill’s three-run homer in the fourth inning. The A’s would go on to score 11 unanswered runs—one in the fourth, six in the seventh, and four more in the eighth to bury the Angels.

With a pair of wins to open the important series with the Angels, the A’s increased their lead to 3 ½ games in the AL West.

Tommy Milone made the start for the A’s and avoided disaster in the first inning by pitching out of a bases-loaded situation and keeping the game scoreless. But after allowing the home run to Tyler Skaggs in the fourth, Milone wasn’t around long enough to qualify for a win. Reliever Fernando Rodriguez pitched a scoreless seventh inning and picked up the win.

At 34-22 the A’s maintain the best record in the American League over the Central-leading Tigers and the East-leading Blue Jays.

Cespedes recorded a career-tying five RBIs in the win, but didn’t get a chance to bat for the cycle after homering in the eighth. His two outfield-assisted putouts at home in the same inning marked the first time the feat had been accomplished since 2011 when Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo did it.

The A’s look for the sweep on Sunday when Sonny Gray takes the mound for Oakland, and Jered Weaver pitches for the Angels.

Rattlers Clip The Cats 51-42

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Arizona Rattlers vs San Jose Sabercats

By Kahlil Najar

Phoenix – The San Jose SaberCats (7-4) lost for the first time in five games to the last team to defeat them, the Arizona Rattlers (11-0), 51-42. With the win, the Rattlers were able to secure their fourth straight National Conference West Division championship. Starting Quarterback Nathan  Stanley went 11 for 23 with 146 yards passing and three touchdowns. Dominique Curry led the team with two touchdowns tonight and Rod Harpe rand Jason Willis scored a touchdown each.

The SaberCats turned the ball over on downs on their first possession and the Rattlers quarterback Jason Murrieta capitalized on that and was able to get the ball to wide receiver Rod Windsor to give the Rattlers a 7-0 lead. The Cats responded back on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Curry to make it a 7-7 game after one quarter.

A Clevan Thomas interception gave the ball back to San Jose in the top of the second and Stanley was able to connect with Curry again for a 14-7 lead. After a San Jose turnover on down, the Rattlers sacked Stanley and forced a fumble, and it was recovered by Rattlers defensive back Arkeith Brown for a touchdown to tie the game at 14.Then with 3.1 seconds left in the first half Murrieta found Kerry Red in the end zone and gave the Rattlers a 21-14 lead going into the half.

After an interception by Simeon Castille on Murrieta tied the game at 21 to start the second half, the Rattlers scored 16 unanswered points including touchdowns to Miller and Windsor and a safety that was award as Arizona defensive lineman Cliff Dukes got to Stanley and sacked him in the end zone to make it a 37 – 21 game. The Cats shrunk the lead to nine points on a Stanley 1 yard tun to bring the score to 37-18 after three quarters.

In the fourth Stanley connected with Wilis and Harper for 14 points but Nick Davila, who came in for relief of Murrieta gave the Rattlers a pair of touchdowns to Windsor and Reed  and kept the lead at nine points, 51-42.

The Cats come back home on June 7th to take on the LA Kiss on their very first trip to the SAP Center.