Month: June 2014

Warriors arena at Mission Bay: Kilroy is here, real estate outfit has big plans at Mission Bay

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO–Kilroy Reality Corp is proposing to build a 680,000 square foot campus which would turn out to be the largest commerical development in Mission Bay. After the Golden State Warriors purchased land at Mission Bay for their new arena, Saleforce who previously owned the property will now develop a campus south of the financial district for their new office development.

Salesforce originally intended to have Kilroy develop Mission Bay for over 2 million square feet for commerical use. Kilroy has built homes south of Market for Saleforce and Dropbox. The 3.1 acre property was bought for $95 million which also included 300 acres located at the former Union railway yards near AT&T Park, companies from bio tech, mediical, and high tech will mostly be occupying the properties.

The land purchase is almost the half the cost of the Warriors new arena, the cost of the 680,000 foot development which includes the project and property runs at $450 million. The Warriors who plan to build at Mission Bay are looking to spend upwards to $1 billion on the new arena a cost that is more than the original arena that they had their hearts set on at Piers 30-32.

The Warriors said the projected price for building the new arena at Mission Bay would be originally at $500-600 million but that cost has soared into their first billion. Piers 30-32 ran into neighborhood problems as neighbors said they oppose any construction development that would block or change the existing scenary of the bay, the bridge, and east bay views.

The neighbors and former San Francisco politicians former Mayor Art Agnos and former SF Board of Supervisor president Aaron Peskin helped get propositon B passed which limits any new building on the waterfront to 40 feet unless voters approve a project over that size.

The Mission Bay arena will run twice as much higher than the Piers 30-32 proposal and with more freedom to build on that property. With home properties it’s expected that the Warriors will include retail and condos a hotel on Mission Bay as well. How much of a that Kilroy will play into the project is still up for discussion with the Warriors.

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

A’s Clipped In The 14th, lose to Angels 2-1

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Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols, center, slides into home after being tagged out by Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris while trying to score on a single by Josh Hamilton during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Angels’ Albert Pujols, center, slides into home after being tagged out by Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris while trying to score on a single by Josh Hamilton during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Kahlil Najar

ANAHEIM – Drew Pomeranz pitched seven innings of one run ball and Yoenis Cespedes had one of the best throws you’re going to see this year but Collin Cowgill hit a homer in the bottom of the fourteenth to lead the Angels over the A’s 2-1.

Jeff Francis (0-2) went 1 2/3 innings and gave up two walks and of course the solo shot to Cowgill to end the game. Cory Rasmus (2-0) got the win for the Angels and kept the A’s hit-less in the last two innings of the game. The A’s used a three other relievers tonight in addition to Francis and they gave up four hits in five innings. Sean Doolittle had a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the 12th.

The highlight of the night for the A’s was in the bottom of the eighth when Cesepedes bobbled Mike Trout’s double to left field and after picking up the ball he saw Howie Kendrick rounding third and threw a laser to Derek Norris who was able to tag out Kendrick. Check out the video of the throw below:

 

Th Angels got on the board first in the bottom of the sixth when after a Mike Trout walk to start the inning, Josh Hamilton singled on a line drive to right field and made it a 1-0 lead for LA. The A’s tied the game in the top of the 8th when after Nick Punto double and a Stephen Vogt ground out, jed Lowrie hit a sac fly to right field and Punto scored after tagging up. Then came the homer in the bottom of the 14th to end the game.

Even though they lost the game, the talk of the night for the A’s was the throw by Cespedes.

“If you hadn’t seen it, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. Flat-footed, he threw it 325 feet on the fly, right to DeNo’s chest,” said Sean Doolittle.

Coco Crisp echoed Doolittle’s sentiments, “Probably the best recovery I’ve ever seen. An amazing throw.”

The A’s and Angels head back at it tomorrow when Tommy Milone (3-3, 3.68 ERA) goes up against Jered Weaver (7-4, 3.31 ERA), game time 7:05PM.

NBA Championship Finals: Spurs back in physical way 111-92 S.A. in series lead 2-1

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio (2) vs. Miami (1): This was a big game for the Spurs they won the first game with the broken air conditioner out of action and a lot of people would have said Miami would have won game two back in San Antonio if not for the air conditioning and then the Heat came back and win game two.

So a lot of people were thinking the Heat really had a shot to have swept those two in San Antonio, so the Heat might have the advantage now that their going Florida. The Spurs said no were not having any of that talk and they had a pretty decisive win in game three on Tuesday night 111-92 and it really wasn’t that close.

The Spurs jumped out to a 16 point lead in the first quarter, they scored 41 points and the Heat have a very good defense but you drop 41 points on the Heat in one quarter your doing something right. From that point forward it was all San Antonio there was a blip in third quarter as the Spurs were having trouble getting the ball in the hoop.

The Spurs recovered and the Heat was never really able to get back in this game. It was a solid game all around from the Spurs there was really no breathing room for the Heat in this one. The Heat’s LeBron James and Dwayne Wade were impact players for the Heat Tuesday night. All the props go out to the Spurs Kahwi Leonard he really sent a message for the Spurs with 29 points, 10-13 shooting, that’s impressive.

Leonard was all over the floor and not just on offense, he was a tough defender on D, he helped contain LeBron and LeBron scored 22 points on 9-14 shots it wasn’t impactful. LeBron is one of those guys who where you can give up 20 it’s a matter of what points your giving him.

For LeBron these were points that he would not really care about, LeBron got his shots here and there but it’s really nothing he would care about and it was nothing that really would stoke the crowd it was nothing that got the team going. So the Spurs come in and makes a statement in game three, in game two they struggled and in game one they won more because of the lack of air conditioning in their building.

This was a physical game on Tuesday and your going to see players getting a little physical in this series and your talking about two very good defensive teams already and when you get in the finals everybody throws everything out the window. Your getting everything but the kitchen sink and sometimes you can get the kitchen sink. It’s the Spurs and Heat for game four on Thursday night in Miami.

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

Fister outduels Bumgarner

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-In the much anticipated pitching rematch of Game Two of the 2012 World Series between Madison Bumgarner and Doug Fister, it was a pitchers’ duel; however different results this time around.

Denard Span got to Bumgarner in the top of the fifth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Ian Desmond and then Jayson Werth added a run-scoring single that scored Danny Espinosa and the Washington Nationals hung on
to defeat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 before 41,545, the 279th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park.

Fister went seven innings, allowing zero runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out three on his way to upping his record to 5-1 on the season, his first in the Nation’s Capitol.

Bumgarner allowed two runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out five in seven innings of work, as the left-hander saw his record fall to 8-4.

Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse picked up back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fourth inning that included Sandoval to reach third base; however Gregor Blanco, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Hicks each flew out to end the threat.

Adam LaRoche singled twice for the Nationals, and appeared to score the Nationals’ third run of the game in the top of the sixth inning after first base umpire Phil Cuzzi ruled Desmond safe on an infield hit, as he beat the throw from Morse to Bumgarner; however Bruce Bochy challenged the ruling and after 36 seconds, the play was reversed, thus nullifying the run.

That replay was the second replay challenge of the game, as Nationals manager Matt Williams challenged a call in the bottom of the third inning, as he thought Angel Pagan was out on a groundout that would have been an inning-ending double play; however the call stood.

With runners on first and second with one out, Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard was able to get out of the jam, as he struck out Morse for the second out and then got Blanco to flyout to Span in centerfield to end the inning.

After Crawford led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a long triple off of Nationals closer Rafael Soriano, then Hicks grounded out to shortstop to drive in Crawford with the Giants only run of the game.

Soriano was able to regroup following the Hicks groundout to get pinch hitter Hector Sanchez to popout to Desmond at shortstop, and then Pagan flew out to Span in centerfield to end the game.

It was the 13th save of the season for Soriano, who gave up one run on one hit in his lone inning of work.

Former Oakland Athletic and Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch passes at 57

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By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Former Oakland Athletic and Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch passed away today at the young age of 57. The cause of death was unavailable. In a press release from the the Athletics, A’s President Michael Crowley said, “We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Bob Welch. He was a legendary pitcher who enjoyed many of his best seasons with the Oakland A’s. He will always be a significant part of our franchise’s history, and we mourn his loss. We send our greatest sympathies to his family and friends.”

General Manager Billy Beane expressed his sentiments on this sad occasion, “This is a sad day for the entire A’s organization. Those of us who knew Bob as a teammate and a friend will miss him greatly. My condolences go out to his family.”

Current A’s closer Sean Doolittle posted on Twitter, “Devastated to learn of Bob Welch’s passing. The A’s organization lost not only one of its best pitchers, but one of its best people.”

In 17 seasons in the majors, Welch earned a 211-146 record and 3.47 ERA. Bay Area fans might remember him being a key member of the A’s from 1988-90 when he and Dave Stewart were the aces of the staff and lead them to the World Series in 1989 when they swept the San Francisco Giants. In 1990 when Welch won the Cy Young he compiled an unbelievable record of 27-6 with an era of 2.95. In 24 years, no one has come close to winning at least 25 games.

After his playing days, Welch was the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks when they won the 2001 World Series and he shared time with current A’s coach Bob Melvin.  His son Riley was selected by the A’s in the 34th round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Players Draft.

Kings arena downtown: Citizens protest the building of new arena citing traffic and environmental concerns

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by Jerry Feitelberg

A Sacramento citizens lawsuit hearing was heard in Sacramento Superior Court on Tuesday, 12 citizens in their efforts to try and stop the construction of the Sacramento Kings new arena was heard. The citizens claim traffic, huge crowds creating pollution, noise in the neighborhood, possible public drunkeness and riots after games as part of the reasons given why the arena should not be built at downtown’s Fairfield Mall where all the merchants have moved out in preparation for the Kings demolition for the new arena build.

The lawsuit by the citizens was filed a day after the Sacramento City Council took a vote to approve construction for the Kings new arena, the council voted 7-2 in favor for the new arena. The citizens filed the lawsuit under the California environmental laws, the lawsuit also protests SB 743 which was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown giving the construction of the arena teeth against CEQA lawsuits.

The citizens went down a laundry list of reasons why the court should over rule the City Council explaining that traffic conditions around downtown’s K and L streets would be a congestion nightmare and that people who live in the neighborhood would have difficulty getting access to their homes before and after games and show events at the area.

The citizens went onto say that noise in the nieghborhood after hours or normally after a game for example around 10pm would be a disruption to the nieghborhood and to those who sleep and have to go to work the next day, parking and traffic was another issue the citizens talked about stating that gridlock before and after games would not allow the neighbors to have the normal access to their homes, parking would be horrendous for neighbors trying to park near their homes according to the citizens lawsuit complaint and creates a huge traffic delays on neighboring freeway exits.

In response to the complaint lawyers for the Kings and the City said that the issues brought up by the citizens to stop the construction of the arena were not going to be the big problem that the citizens say it was. The city and the Kings did not specify why in challenging each complaint, the proceedure for hearings at this stage for not being specific is normal. The Kings and the city plan to list why the arena is good for the city in the next hearing after listening to the citizen complaints.

The lawsuit was not filed against the Kings as the Kings were listed in the lawsuit as “the real party of interest” and the suit was filed against the City of Sacramento.

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

NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Vigneault says Rangers face must win on Wednesday night

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by Larry Leavitt

Los Angeles vs. NY Rangers: It would be a big surprise if the Rangers can win one at home as they face the Los Angeles Kings in game four and if the Rangers can win game four they face the tough task of facing the Kings in Los Angeles for game five.

The Kings are playing the way that they were expected to play, game three was a complete game. They really gave the Rangers a lot of opportunity on the power play that their power play is strong and they handled the rush of power plays and they handled that from the beginning of the game to the end.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick got the shutout on Monday night at MSG 3-0 and it showed that even though they were out shot two to one he was able to hold the line and did a great job. Let’s face it the Kings got pretty lucky because there were some open pucks that the Rangers couldn’t get the handle on the stick.

Another example the Rangers Rick Nash had a wrap around with the whole side of the net open and just couldn’t get the puck on the stick. Sometimes it takes skill and a whole lot of work and a little luck and the Kings have a lot of luck going for them right now.

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault put themselves in a corner here, the question is how good a coach is he? Are the Kings destined to win this thing? Can Vigneault take a chance to over coach this thing? He’s got some problems to figure out.

Right now the Kings are just out playing the Rangers, their giving the pucks up to a much quicker team. It’s questionable if the Rangers have injuries that the players are not admitting to and your never going to find these things out until much afterwards.

Vigneault needs to out coach Kings head coach Darryl Sutter and he could do it but he hasn’t shown it yet. Vigneault has to step up and elevate his team and get some of these players to perform a little bit better because everything is on the line on Wednesday night for the Rangers in game four.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Angels set to turn things around in chase of A’s and first

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–The Los Angeles Angels are playing great ball right now, their playing to win and the last few years the A’s have won the west. Everybody on the Angels is healthy, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout is back, Josh Hamilton and the Angels have a great line up.

I challenge anybody who knows baseball to compare the Angels position by position. The Angels are a better team than the A’s. The A’s at present are playing much better no doubt about that. Looking at the Angels you have Pujols at first, you have Howie Kendrick at second, Erick Aybar is a great shortstop with a gold glove.

The Angels have a great team with Hamilton, Trout, they have great pitching with Jerod Weaver and C.J. Wilson and on Monday night they had starter Garrett Richards who pitched a tremendous game. The Angels are going for it they have won four in a row beating Oakland for their fourth on Monday night.

NCAA players making move for pay: It’s very simple I got one opinion I don’t agree with it, I don’t think college athletes should be paid to play sports. You go to college for academics and if you excel in sports that’s great.

There are a small amount of players that become professionals, you have to work hard, you have to have some kind of God given talent. I don’t agree I don’t think the players in college should get paid. This country is huge and it’s the richest country on earth.

There are still plenty of opportunities, you got four terrific leagues here. you have the NFL, MLB, NHL and the NBA. There are so many outlets if your good at the sport. I don’t think we should be paying kids to be playing sports in college.

World Cup in Brazil: Brazil is a huge country territory wise and it’s larger than the United States and population wise it’s still a third world country and their still very poor. There is a lot of criticism about FIFA.

FIFA has been for three years loaded with corruption and scandals and they have a lot of beautiful stadiums in Brazil and the people there are kind of complaining about what is going to happen when World Cup ends?

They cannot eat those stadiums there, what are they going to do with those stadiums? There are still a lot of people there still suffering. The World Cup should help them though in their economy. Brazil still has a lot of problems, the Brazilians are so proud to have the World Cup.

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

Giants’ hot run halted by Strasburg, Desmond and the Nats

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By Morris Phillips

In fashioning the best 63-game* start to a season in Major League Baseball over the last 10 seasons, a lot of things have gone right for the Giants.

With Ian Desmond and Steven Strasburg on top of their games, none of those wonderful things continued on Monday.

Strasburg shut down the Giants for six innings and Desmond contributed a career-best five RBI in the Nationals 9-2 victory over the Giants.

The loss—only the Giants fourth in the previous 18 games—allowed the Dodgers to cut into the biggest divisional lead in baseball which now stands at 8 ½ games.  Los Angeles won the opener of their four-game series with Reds in Cincinnati, 6-2.

Clutch hitting with base runners on, home runs a plenty and MLB saves leader Sergio Romo (converted 20 of 22) go a long way in telling the story of the 2014 Giants, who have surprised all the experts in compiling the best record in either league.  But on Monday none of those storylines factored in as Strasburg allowed few clutch situations to materialize, the ball stayed in the park and Romo didn’t get the call in a lopsided affair in which the Nats led 4-1 after three and put it away with a five-run seventh.

Ryan Vogelsong was coming off one of the best starts of his career but just didn’t have it on Monday.  Vogey struggled from the start, allowing six hits, two damaging walks and four runs in the first three innings.

The Giants look to rebound on Tuesday behind the red-hot Madison Bumgarner (6-0 over his last seven starts) who will face Doug Fister of the Nationals at 7:15pm.

A’s Flounder Against Richards, Angels as Trout Makes Splash

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By Matthew Harrington

Starter Garrett Richards and the Los Angeles Angels stifled the Oakland Athletics offense Monday night at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, besting the A’s 4-1 while limiting the visitors to four hits. Yoenis Cespedes and Stephen Vogt combined for all the Oakland offense, collecting two hits apiece. The A’s (39-25) scored one run for just the sixth time this season a day after exploding for 11 runs at Camden Yards.

Jesse Chavez (5-4, 3.04 ERA) pitched gave six strong innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits against the Halos, but the A’s offense failed to figure out Richards in support. The 26-year-old righty (6-2, 3.09) stymied the green and gold to only four hits over his seven innings.

The A’s took the lead in the top of the second after Yoenis Cespedes scored on a softly-hit Stephen Vogt single to left with two outs. Vogt proved steady at the plate and behind the dish in place of starting catcher Derek Norris. Norris sat out Monday night after taking a Manny Machado backswing to the back of the head yesterday afternoon in Baltimore.

Angels superstar Mike Trout collected his 44th and 4t5th RBIs on a sac fly in the third and a controversial fifth-inning ground-rule double respectively. With Hank Conger on second, Trout aboutfaced a 2-2 Chavez delivery to deep right field that looked labeled for the bleachers. Originally called a home run on the field, an umpire review revealed a fan reached below the railing to catch the ball for fan interference. Crew chief Bob Davidson overturned the play, placing Trout back on second base to the chagrin of Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia. Scioscia argued the play, resulting in an ejection from Davidson with the Angels leading 3-1. Hank Conger and Raul Ibanez also plated runs for the Halos.

After Richards, Joe Smith and Closer Ernesto Frieri locked down the A’s bats, pitching a scoreless inning a piece. Smith struck out two while Frieri k’d the side to pick up his 11th save of the season. Ryan Cook and Fernando Abad pitched a third of an inning a piece and Jim Johnson wrapped up the A’s pitching performance, allowing an unearned run in his 1 1/3 innings of work.

With the win, the Angels (35-28) move 3.5 games back of the A’s for the lead in the American League West. They’ll look to put together a fifth-consecutive victory Tuesday night, sending Hector Santiago to the mound in his return. Santiago seeks his first win of the season in his return to the rotation after Los Angeles placed Tyler Skaggs on the disabled list Monday afternoon with a right hamstring strain.

The A’s counter with Drew Pomeranz fresh off a bounce-back outing in which he narrowly outdueled Yankees sensation Masahiro Tanaka in a 2-1 loss in the Bronx. Pomeranz pitched seven innings, his longest start of the season, just one appearance after allowing five runs to the same Angels in a fortunate 9-5 home field triumph May 30th.